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Japan’s keirin series Pist6 halts 2025 operations
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,…
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DerbyWheel’s UK company now under full Korean control
The distancing of former CEO James Pope from DerbyWheel’s UK corporate entity, DerbyWheel Player Ltd has continued, with additional registration changes today. Global Keirin reported earlier this week that the company’s formal address had been moved to a City of London office block, having previously been an address associated directly with Pope himself. The company…
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DerbyWheel’s UK business changes its official address
DerbyWheel has cut a further connection to former CEO James Pope, in the latest update to the corporate registration of its UK operating company. Global Keirin reported last month that Pope had been removed from the company’s list of directors; but its registered office was still listed as an address with personal connection to Pope.…
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Two world records in two days for Richardson
He told us he wasn’t done… and he wasn’t kidding. Great Britain’s Matthew Richardson was back on track today, and went even faster. News broke on the Instagram story of Richardson’s partner, Emma Finucane, that the new holder of the world flying 200 record returned to the Konya velodrome, and posted a time of 8.857…
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Richardson is first man to break the 9-second barrier
But brace yourselves: he’s coming back for another try on Friday
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Corporate filing confirms Pope’s exit as director
An update to the UK company records for DerbyWheel Player Ltd confirms that CEO James Pope is severing ties with the project, as reported by Global Keirin a few weeks ago. Pope’s resignation as a director of the company was notified to Companies House, the UK’s corporate register on 23 July. The submission consists only…
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Foreign riders will return to Japanese keirin in 2026
Japanese keirin is preparing to re-open its doors to international riders, for the first time since the Covid pandemic. MoreCadence is reporting a decision by the JKA that the ‘short-term registration system’, suspended in 2020, will be revived. (There’s nothing on the JKA website yet, though.) They propose to hold a Keirin World Series, consisting…
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Rare defeat for the king of Korean keirin
Im Chae-Bin, who had won every race he had entered thus far in 2025, was beaten by his biggest rival Jeong Jong-Jin in Sunday’s special final of the King of Kings event, second only to the year-end Grand Prix in the Korean calendar. It brought an end to 33-year-old Im Chae-Bin’s latest winning streak, 39…
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LinkedIn edit hints at CEO Pope’s exit from DerbyWheel
Has chief executive officer James Pope parted company with DerbyWheel? Pope’s profile on LinkedIn, which has recently been his platform of choice for professional communication, has been edited in recent days, adding an end date of May 2025 for his role as DerbyWheel CEO. Pope has made no announcement regarding the change; and there have…
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DerbyWheel CEO increases commitment to US racing series
DerbyWheel’s James Pope is to extend his engagement with StadioBike, a separate initiative to bring bike racing events to US motorsport circuits. StadioBike announced that Pope would be joining its ownership team, along with former pro cyclist Kristin Labonte. He had previously been engaged with StadioBike as an advisor. The StadioBike concept appears to have…
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Lavreysen triumphant on his home streets
The fastest man in the world, Harrie Lavreysen returned to the streets of his home village for a Monday evening of sprint competition against his fellow Dutch stars – and a guest from Great Britain, none other than Matthew Richardson. The village, with a reported population of around 3,500 welcomed a crowd of over 7,000…
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DerbyWheel pushes launch timeline back a further 6 months
Global Keirin’s website monitor has picked up another quiet update to the DerbyWheel website, once again delaying the launch of the proposed world keirin series. Edits to the derbywheel.com calendar page in the last 24 hours now propose a date of ‘2nd half of 2025 (TBC)’ for an exhibition race, still taking place at the…
