Season will be shortened by one race, if Japanese Grand Prix is cancelled – MotoGP News
Carmelo Ezpeleta, the boss of MotoGP has expressed his view that there will not be a Japanese Grand Prix if the Motegi officials decided to eliminate their round due to circuit damages.
The Japanese Grand Prix was originally planned for Sunday, April 24. Due to the natural disaster caused by the earthquake followed by the tsunami, the country suffered massive damage and was unable to host the event in such a short time. A mutual decision
was taken to postpone the race to October 2, between the Spanish and Australian round of the calendar.
The present moment has still not shown any chances of visiting Japan in the event schedule, as the Motegi Twin circuit faced prominent damages during the earthquake.
The MotoGP boss, Ezpeleta said that the event will depend upon the organiser’s decision, but it was made clear by him that there will be no race if the Japanese round is cancelled.
Ezpeleta said, "We wait for the decisions of the local promoters. But in any case, should they decide to give up the race for this year, there would be no substitution.”
Ezpeleta also added, “A national championship race is scheduled there in July, which means that at that time the venue should be usable. By then we should be certain on what we'll do."
He further explained to the press that the rider’s as well as the fans’ safety is of top priority and the MotoGP event will take place in Japan if there is no risk of radiation in the area.
"I have full confidence in the Japanese and if they tell us the race can go ahead, then we'll be 1,000% sure we'll be safe. If the situation isn't clear, I'm certain they'll be the first at evaluating the situation appropriately," said Ezpeleta.
Vice President of Honda, Shuhei Nakamoto told the media that the damages have been repaired and test rides have been done on the track, as the riders did not face any problems during the test runs.
The unpleasant and unexpected gap created by the cancellation of the race was help in some way, as many riders were experiencing health issues after last season’s accidents. A couple of riders like Alvaro Bautista of Rizla Suzuki and Cal Crutchlow of Monster
Yamaha Tech3 faced accidents just before the season opener round of Qatar at the Losail circuit.
Dani Pedrosa the Repsol Honda rider was also having an arm pump issue by the end of the Qatar Grand Prix. Soon after the second round Grand Prix of Spain, Pedrosa availed the long gap and had his surgery done so he could recover before the Portuguese GP.
Bautista was also helped by the lack of a race weekend, to recover from his left fractured femur.
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