MotoGP News
Date: 2/August/2011
A Tuesday (August 2) statement from the FIM, the governing body of the MotoGP World Championship, has officially confirmed that the Japanese Grand Prix will go ahead.
Running of the event, delayed until October 2 due to the devastating earthquake and tsunami, had been called into question over radiation fears - the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant being just over 100km from the Motegi circuit.
Most MotoGP riders signed a petition against holding the event (the exact wording is not known) then, just two weeks' ago, championship leaders Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo went a step further by declaring they "will not go".
That came before the findings of an independent report commissioned by the FIM to examine the specific radiation risk at Motegi. The full results of that report have now been made public and Tuesday's FIM statement declared:
"Based on this report the FIM and Dorna Sports confirm today that, subject to there being no further serious incidents, the Grand Prix of Japan will take place on 2 October as planned.
"…ARPA [which compiled the report] has measured levels of radiation from all sources including the air, environment and food. The final conclusion is that "based on the estimate dose it can be said with no doubt that the radiation risk during the race event is negligible"."
Stoner and Lorenzo claimed that the results of the report would not change their minds, but they must now either make an embarrassing climb-down or face the wrath of their (Japanese) employers.
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