Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa not going to Japan

So Gavin Emmett and Matthew Roberts have both just posted the following on Twitter "Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa just confirmed in the front row press conference that they will not go to Japan." They apparently are not the only riders who will not be going to Japan because of fears about the radiation from the reactors at the nuclear power station that was severely damaged by the tsunami. Although I understand there fears, I do feel really bad for all the MotoGP fans in Japan who were looking forward to the race. The race is still months away, so I hope that the race still goes ahead.



Scarlet

TeamTexas said:

So Gavin Emmett and Matthew Roberts have both just posted the following on Twitter "Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa just confirmed in the front row press conference that they will not go to Japan." I don't even know what to say, I am just shocked. I have not seen the full press conference but I would like to hear the reason why. Does this mean more riders will not be going to Japan and as a result there will no longer be a race in Japan? Or have I gotten the wrong end of the stick.



Scarlet

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The danger to them of radiation emanating from fukushima 120km away at motegi is zero, unless they get someone to catch them fish to eat from fukushima bay , or go swimming there on the way there or back.



However, these guys have been riding bikes from there early teens rather than studying nuclear physics, and the japanese government have been less than frank about aspects of the nuclear accident, so I think it would be reasonable for them to get independent advice, if they are making decisions rather than just being aware of a decision made by dorna, FIM or whomever.

I've just seen this, apparently they wont go whatever happens and all the riders except Aoyama are in agreement. I will believe it when i see it

Bunch of clowns

I heard there are 15 on the current grid that dont want to go to Japan.

I don't blame them, the Japanese govt has been very shady about this disaster.

Stoner and Lorenzo are being heavily criticized for this latest move. And somewhat unfairly I think.

Obviously they both have been informed well enough to make their own decision on the matter, the conjecture will come if some riders disagree and go.

Either way its shaping up for a very big PR disaster for Dorna if they can't get the top two manufactures top two riders to show up at their employers home race.

I wonder what Honda and Yamaha's views are, Stoner and Lorenzo must have consulted their bosses surely?

A friend of mine who was a member on the ARPANSA safety committee overseeing safety operations at Lucas Heights (Australias only Nuclear reactor near Sydney) emailed me a VERY disturbing report he compiled from different sources of information about this disaster 2 months ago...I am slightly skeptical (its my nature) but even if 10% of what he reported was true it is a very sobering read.



Basically the jist of it was that even though the Fukishima disaster had disappeared of the mainstream medias radar the situation there was extremely grave and he detailed the extent of the damage to the plant, the status of each of the reactors and what the future holds for dealing with this catastrophe which could turn out to be the worst nuclear accident in human history due to the fact that not just one reactor is involved unlike Chernobyl.



The Japanese government has been very secretive and has colluded with the plant operators to paint the situation in a positive light but in reality the situation is far from under control and it could take decades if not longer to bring these reactors under control and shut them down properly.



I dont blame any of the riders for not wanting to go there for what is essentially sports entertainment....there are far more important things in life to consider.

Mr Squiggle said:

A friend of mine who was a member on the ARPANSA safety committee overseeing safety operations at Lucas Heights (Australias only Nuclear reactor near Sydney) emailed me a VERY disturbing report he compiled from different sources of information about this disaster 2 months ago...I am slightly skeptical (its my nature) but even if 10% of what he reported was true it is a very sobering read.



Basically the jist of it was that even though the Fukishima disaster had disappeared of the mainstream medias radar the situation there was extremely grave and he detailed the extent of the damage to the plant, the status of each of the reactors and what the future holds for dealing with this catastrophe which could turn out to be the worst nuclear accident in human history due to the fact that not just one reactor is involved unlike Chernobyl.



The Japanese government has been very secretive and has colluded with the plant operators to paint the situation in a positive light but in reality the situation is far from under control and it could take decades if not longer to bring these reactors under control and shut them down properly.



I dont blame any of the riders for not wanting to go there for what is essentially sports entertainment....there are far more important things in life to consider.

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I have some acquaintance with arpansa as well, and also heard a radiologist guy from melbourne who is currently a member on

the radio.



My understanding is that management of the incident, and particularly the public announcement side of things was largely dealt with directly by the prime minister's office rather than the experts in the Japanese atomic energy agency. The land around Fukushima may be unusable for many years because of long-lived isotopes released by the accident like strontium and caesium which have half-lives of decades, and there is some discussion that the exclusion zone should have been greater and that significant local ground water contamination has occurred. This still doesn't really impact motegi 120km away though, with direct radiation from fukushima essentially negligible even if there weren't mountain ranges in between because of the inverse square law, and orders of magnitude less than what the whole paddock receives flying to and from Japan, but as I said initially they are motogp riders, not "rocket scientists"', and their caution is understandable in view of the dearth of public information and doubts about its reliability as you say.

michaelm said:

I have some acquaintance with arpansa as well, and also heard a radiologist guy from melbourne who is currently a member on

the radio.



My understanding is that management of the incident, and particularly the public announcement side of things was largely dealt with directly by the prime minister's office rather than the experts in the Japanese atomic energy agency. The land around Fukushima may be unusable for many years because of long-lived isotopes released by the accident like strontium and caesium which have half-lives of decades, and there is some discussion that the exclusion zone should have been greater and that significant local ground water contamination has occurred. This still doesn't really impact motegi 120km away though, with direct radiation from fukushima essentially negligible even if there weren't mountain ranges in between because of the inverse square law, and orders of magnitude less than what the whole paddock receives flying to and from Japan, but as I said initially they are motogp riders, not "rocket scientists"', and their caution is understandable in view of the dearth of public information and doubts about its reliability as you say.

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The head of which quit during the crisis in a teary public announcement stating that the Government was simply ignoring their advise and completely understating the dangers....as you say though the area around Motegi is in all likelihood quite safe even if the exclusion zone around the plant has been irradiated far beyond what the authorities have indicated.



I honestly doubt there is really any serious health risk in staging the race there but I can totally understand people not wanting to take that chance with something as insidious and damaging to human health as nuclear radiation.

They should race.



On many occasions Stoner seems smart, but on this issue he is ignorant and misguided. I am very disappointed.





























.......as I am with Povs non-bike view of the world. You have enough synapses to come to the correct conclusion, but you don,t.



Very disappointing...........................

I think it would really help to know the actually scale of the damage and the radiation levels of the area around the Fukushima plant and how wide spread it is. Like michaelm said the isotopes have half lives of decades and some even have half lives of centuries and also I agree the riders are not experts in this field and sometimes it is better to air on the side of caution, especially when there is such a lack of information and when some of the information may not be completely accurate. There however is very little chance that Motegi would have been effected by the melt down of the reactors.



Obviously its a really difficult situation and my heart really does go out to all the Japanese fans and I hope that there is a race, after all the race isn't till October. The Japanese people have already been through so much and it would be a real pity if the race was cancelled. I was talking to my good friend Rebecca who's family are originally from near where the tsunami struck and her whole family are huge MotoGP fans (shes about the only person I know at uni who watches MotoGP ) and they have tickets and paddock pass and they are understandably devastated by this news. We both have our fingers crossed that by some miracle the race goes ahead but it doesn't look good.



Scarlet

Bunch of ....... pansies!

michaelm said:

I have some acquaintance with arpansa as well, and also heard a radiologist guy from melbourne who is currently a member on

the radio.



My understanding is that management of the incident, and particularly the public announcement side of things was largely dealt with directly by the prime minister's office rather than the experts in the Japanese atomic energy agency. The land around Fukushima may be unusable for many years because of long-lived isotopes released by the accident like strontium and caesium which have half-lives of decades, and there is some discussion that the exclusion zone should have been greater and that significant local ground water contamination has occurred. This still doesn't really impact motegi 120km away though, with direct radiation from fukushima essentially negligible even if there weren't mountain ranges in between because of the inverse square law, and orders of magnitude less than what the whole paddock receives flying to and from Japan, but as I said initially they are motogp riders, not "rocket scientists"', and their caution is understandable in view of the dearth of public information and doubts about its reliability as you say.

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Fully support your post. It's a shame that the top motogp riders aren't being advised by (or have sought advice from) people who understand the basic laws of physics and the relative radiation doses received for various activities. It's bad enough that the people have Japan have suffered from the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear accident from March but now they're likely to miss out on their biggest annual sporting event.

Well im not going to judge the rider's because I don't know .... about nuclear science and it's not me being told to go there.



Would be nice if those teams / riders not attending would donate their wages and expenses money they would have needed to the Japan relief fund.

I'm I the only one that suspects that this may not be about rider's safety concerns, but that we are actually witnessing a political game being played out between some riders (notably Lorenzo, Stoner and Pedrosa) the people running the sport?



Anyone seen Ezpeleta's BBC interview on the grid just before the race? He sounded like an ignorant kid. (if they don't go, it's not my problem but theirs...sure baldy)



Then there's all this very outright criticism of the safety commission and race control by the same group of riders.



Butlers reaction to Dani's criticism on the simonchelli verdict was also very suspect (he started about jerez 2006). You can't say such things if you're supposed to be independent.



Maybe I should join mylex and but a tinfoil hat on, but I smell a rat.

If they want to find out how far the radiation has spread they should jusst put a geiger counter on Pinky's pecker

Anyone know the odds for an Aoyama win at Motegi? It's lookin' good.

To get an idea of radiation levels:







Source: http://xkcd.com/radiation/



Which contains one of my favorite jokes:

All those that have the "with you japan" stickers that have decided not to go should be made to change them to "I'm an ignorant ....... ...... hypocrite".



I was having this conversation with Arrabi last night after reading the article on motomatters. For me, there is no excuse, they are ignorant ....... idiots, regardless of their profession. Somebody who can dumb it down for them should explain where x-rays, MRIs, and CAT scans come from, not to mention the endless x-ray machines they get exposed to at airports. These fools have more radiation in them then some Chernobyl former residents.



Kropo mentions its some of the paddock players pushing the right buttons on impressionable riders, so my question is, when are we going to start treating these riders like the men they're suppose to be? These ..... make their living thanks to the Japanese support in the sport, and though this is not an argument to go into a dangerous situation (which this is not) this at least should give them pause to get an academic lesson on what is radiation by somebody more credible than the ....... .... that gives them a towel to wipe their face. Reminds me of these ..... in California going to the drug store to get anti-radiation pills. ....'em all, starting with the ring leaders like Casey, Lorenzo,Pedro, and Rossi, and all the ....., that includes Nicky and everybody else chickenshit enough to cave to peer pressure and go alone with the ignorant rider power structure & bullies.