After the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami that struck the north east of Japan last week, Noriyuki Haga sent this message to all his fans thanking them for their concern, as he was in his home country when nature decided to let loose in all its catastrophic anger.

Nitro Nori reassured everyone that he and his family were unhurt and also confirmed that the Kagayama and Fujiwara families were also spared from harm.

“First of all I would like to say thank you so much to everyone that has texted me and called me, concerned about my family and friends in Japan. I just wanted everyone to know how much it meant to me and I appreciate it very much! Thank you so much for all the kindness you show me. All my family (Yurie, Akito, Ryota and Kanon) are OK and our relatives who live in the suffering area are safe too.”

Continue reading: Noriyuki Haga: "Don't give up Japan, Don't give up Tohoku!"

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In this press release by HRC Executive VP Shuhei Nakamoto talks about the current situation at the HRC facility, spare parts availability, Motegi and naturally the 2011 racing season.

What happened in Japan is devastating, and we are all hoping that the rec overy process will be as fast as possible. What is the situation for HRC - how will this disaster effect the racing activities this coming year?

For sure the situation is very difficult in Japan, and our thoughts are with all the people directly involved. As HRC, we have been lucky with no big problems, even if now it is difficult to work at our head office - we can work only five hours per day due to the power restrictions put in place. Also access to the office is very difficult - the main train cannot reach Asakadai station - the closest to our office, and it is very complicated to reach work with only 50% of trains operating. Because of this situation many people try to come by car, but now the traffic is incredibly heavy and is taking up to 3 hours to reach HRC, instead of only 1 and it’s hard to get petrol as petrol stations are closed. Another problem is related to our suppliers. Many of them cannot work at the moment, and this is a potential problem for the racing activities in the coming weeks. So far we have all spare parts we need for Qatar and Jerez races, but after that, if the situation will not c hange, we will have to manage this carefully. Anyway, everybody in Japan is trying their best to fix the situation and we hope all together we will solve all problem as soon as possible.

Continue reading: Q&A: HRC's Shuhei Nakamoto

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