Pist6, the series aiming to present a modern take on Japanese keirin racing, has announced that it will ‘temporarily suspend’ operations in a few weeks.

Launched in October 2021, Pist6 seemed to provide a blueprint for what DerbyWheel could be: international UCI-style racing, held over 6 laps of the indoor 250m track in Chiba City, with modern bikes and clothing, bright lights and an energetic soundtrack.

Racing was live-streamed free on YouTube, with full production values; but all too often, riders emerged from the tunnel at track centre, and gave their power poses to an empty arena.

An announcement on the Pist6 website, echoing a statement from Chiba City authorities, suggests that the suspension is to permit a review of the competition’s proprietary betting technology, which currently runs separately from traditional keirin betting. Racing could resume in March 2026.

‘While our efforts to date have attracted much attention and a new fan base,’ said operators JPF in a statement, ‘we have also identified challenges for further growth. In order to realize even greater potential, we will temporarily suspend the event in the second half of fiscal 2025 and will resume it as soon as preparations are complete.’

Shuntaro Watanabe, president of parent company JPF said the event’s strategy was based on attracting new fans to keirin, accepting that ‘competing for sales would be a futile endeavour.

‘We are very sorry that we were unable to continue expanding the market on our own, and that this has resulted in the temporary suspension of the event. However, this decision is in order to move forward into the future, continuing PIST6, raising the status of Keirin, and creating a new market. With casinos and sports betting on the rise, raising the status of Keirin is an urgent priority for its survival and development.’

Pist6 CEO Kazuki Suzuki accepted that it would take time for a new culture to take root; and confessed that ‘we feel that we are not strong enough to do so… All PIST6 management members are currently working together to prepare for the reopening. We will do our utmost to bring you an even more powerful PIST6 when it reopens.’

Our amigo TrackPiste notes that plans to involve international stars like Denis Dmitriev, Tomas Babek and Jair Tjon en Fa were frustrated by Covid, and never rescheduled.

Future livestreams are listed up to 27 September.

Editor’s note: as always, we are relying on machine translation of original Japanese documents, so errors or misinterpretations are possible.