The Suzuka race track has been bandied around by riders as an alternative to racing at Motegi, with HRC Executive Vice President Shuhei Nakamoto in a interview during the Brno post race test saying that the he liked the idea of Suzuka, but it was not FIM homologated:

The track is different. Maybe two or three of the walls they renewed, and paddock area is now fantastic. Press room is also very good! This is very important for you, yes? [Laughs] Original layout remains but after the hairpin, the very high speed turn, that corner now has a chicane, the chicane is only used for motorcycle races, Formula 1 never used it. Some areas have also been modified, and access roads is now 100% vehicle access, before this was not so. West and south was a different access road, but now you can go all the way round. FIM checked new Suzuka circuit, and FIM is not happy. For several things. Hairpin corner run off zone is not enough, or something. I forget the exact details. Now course license, before Suzuka was 2nd, now they give us 3rd rank license. Regulation is clearly showing we can race only on grade A, A1 and B. Now, Suzuka is 3rd.

Apparently Nakamoto’s interview in English was slightly misunderstood by the attending press (and fans) as HRC has felt the need to clarify their position on Suzuka with a press release which basically says Nakamoto likes Suzuka, but it is not being considered as a replacement venue for Motegi.

Press release after the jump.

Continue reading: HRC's Shuhei Nakamoto's correct statement on Suzuka option

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You don’t often see the top brass of the biggest motorcyle company of the world don leathers, a helmet and hit a race track to personally compete in a race, but HRC Vice President Shuhei Nakamoto did just that yesterday at Motegi.

Nakamoto, HRC directors Seiki Ishii and Tomoaki Nagayama suited up alongside former GP riders Tady Okada and Shinichi Ito for the final and special four hour endurance race of the NSF100 HRC Trophy mini bike series.

86 teams and 420 riders took part in this one-off race, all on Honda mini-bikes and the HRC team completed 105 laps and finished as the press release says a ‘respectably’ 57th out of 80 finishers. We think that the HRC team got their butts kicked by younger and lighter kids. Anyone ever notice how heavy these guys are, including Okada, the official MotoGP RC212V test rider?

Continue reading: HRC Honda Boss Nakamoto races in mini bike endurance race

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Yamaha may have mathematically won the 2009 MotoGP Constructors’ Championship, with Jorge Lorenzo’s win at Estoril, but the factory can’t celebrate due to the five engine limit rule that was implemented at the Brno round.

Using more than five engines could potentially mean that a manufacturer could lose points before the end of the season, but Yamaha is pretty safe because they’ve got a 167 point lead on second place Honda.

Initially it was to be the rider, who used more than the alloted engines would be punished with a 10 point penalty on his championship standings, but the rule was modified at Estoril and rider will now have to start at the back of the grid, while it will be the manufacturer who’ll have 10 points deducted from the constructors championship classification and you can imagine they’re not happy at all and have already starting bitching about it.

Continue reading: MotoGP - Yamaha waiting before celebrating Constructors Championship

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Scot Racing could throw up as many smoke screens as they wanted, announcing its intention to keep both Yuki Takahashi and Gabor Talmacsi. They could tell us that they were trying to get a couple of extra RC212Vs, that they needed to give each rider a spare bike in case of a flag-to-flag race. They could feed us news about Yuki Takahashi’s bad back, but we all knew in our cynical hearts that Talmacsi was riding on borrowed time when Gabor Talmacsi showed up in the Scot Racing Team garage with his big name sponsor MOL.

Honda, in their official press release with the preview of U.S GP this weekend, nine paragraphs down, announced that Takahashi has been politely removed from the team due to the usual financial difficulties:

From Laguna onwards, the Scot Racing Team will continue with Gabor Talmacsi in the MotoGP class. Due to unavoidable circumstances Yuki Takahashi will no longer ride with the team. This decision was reached after exhaustive attempts to find a way to continue with two riders, but the economic realities facing the team, combined with the increased cost involved in running two riders, has led to this regrettable outcome.

“For Honda as well as the Scot Racing Team, this is a sad announcement,” said HRC vice president Shuhei Nakamoto. “But we understand that the extremely challenging financial circumstances facing the team left them with no choice. Takahashi was the only Japanese rider in the MotoGP championship and of course Honda wanted to see him continue. But in the end the team made it clear that this outcome was impossible and we respect their decision. Honda will continue to support the Scot Racing Team in MotoGP with Gabor Talmacsi riding.”

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