UCI world keirin champion Kento Yamasaki has failed to reach the S Class semi-finals at the prestigious Kokura Festival.

Riders needed to finish first or second in their qualifying race on day four of the festival, to make progress in the major competition.

Yamasaki 9 led the race out of the final corner, but Yohei Yamada 3 came out of his slipstream and passed him on the outside to take the win. Yuki Kitai 1 got good momentum out of the corner, and gave it everything as the line approached.

The judges could not ultimately separate Yamasaki and Kitai, declaring them tied for second place.

Kitai claimed the place in the major semi finals based on countback rules. Forgive us for skipping the details; we don’t entirely trust the online translations.

Yamasaki will continue to race in the lower-ranked competition.