Japanese sports industry is now facing hard times after last Friday’s earthquake and tsunami. Reports said that the 9.0-magnitude earthquake caused cracks on the track and also damaged spectator seats at the Motegi circuit (90 miles north of Tokyo), which has led to MotoGP World Championship being rearranged for October. The race was originally scheduled for April 24. The MotoGP season is due to get under way at Losail in Qatar. A domestic road race there next Sunday was also knocked off the circuit’s calendar.
Manifacturing halted in many factories
“At present, we are checking the extent of damage caused by the quake. We have yet to consider what we would do hereafter,” circuit spokesman Yoshihisa Ueno said.
Another big loss for the motorcycle industry, that the 38th Tokyo Motorcycle Industry has also been cancelled. Rolling blackouts across the city, continued aftershocks and transport chaos make it impossible to continue show preparations, and the sensitive social situation has given organisers little choice.
The Japanese motorcycle manufacturers have also been affected by the disaster, Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki have announced extensions of production shutdowns to assess the situation, sometimes even in unaffected regions. Both Honda and Suzuki have shut down six plants (until March 20 and 17), while Yamaha’s factories escaped unscathed. Kawasaki has not released an official statement yet.
via DailyMail, The Independent, MotoGP, Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha
