Kyōtei

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A kyōtei racing course at Suminoe, Osaka.

KYOTEI

KYOTEI Night Race

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The Kyōtei (競艇, Kyōtei^?), literally "boat racing", is a hydroplane racing event primary held in Japan. It is one of the four "Public Sports" (公営競技, kōei kyōgi^?); public operated parimutuel gambles in the nation, other three being horse racing, keirin (bicycle racing), and auto race (motorcycle racing).

The Kyōtei is an event which professional racers compete on man-made pools. Local governments that host race courses sell betting tickets under the parimutuel system. The racing was started in 1952. Japan was the only country to hold the racing until 2002, when South Korea also started their racing under the name 경정 (gyeongjeong), which is Korean pronunciation of 競艇. As of 2007, there are 24 racing courses in Japan, 1 in South Korea.

Motorboats will make three rounds counterclockwise, turning on two corners marked by turnmarks (buoys) floating on a course. As two turnmarks are 300m away, it takes 1,800m to finish a race. The race employs the flying start (false start) system, that is, boats must start before a race itself starts. There is a big clock put on a starting line, counting seconds left for the starting time. Boats, away from the starting line, starts roughly 12 seconds before the starting time. All the boats have to cross the starting line within 1 second after the starting time. If any of the boat could not go through the line within 1 second, or if any crossed the line before the starting time, the betting will be canceled.

All the boats and engines are the same type provided by the Yamato Motor Co., Ltd.. Racers, however, are allowed to tune their engines by themselves (but not by any other staff). Engines are randomly distributed by a drawing on the day before the race. They are also allowed to bring their own propellers. It means racers have to take a lot of time tuning their engines and propellers.

A unique aspect of the sport is the fact that women can compete men evenly. As the weights of racers make important differences for the hydroplane racing, female racers, often lighter than their male counterparts, have certain advantages. Roughly the 10% of 1,500 professional racers are women.