Japan earthquake delays Honda 1000cc track debut

Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami delayed the track debut of Honda’s new four-stroke 1000cc MotoGP machine being developed for the 2012 MotoGP campaign.

The bike was due to be track tested for the first time last week, but HRC boss Shuhei Nakamoto admitted the test was cancelled following the magnitude 9.0 earthquake.

Honda was to have used the Twin Ring Motegi circuit it owns to debut the RC212V 800cc replacement, but the circuit was damaged during the recent powerful earthquake Shuhei Nakamoto told MCN: “Dyno testing has just finished and we are happy. We wanted to test last week but our plan is now delayed. Suzuka or another track in the West side of Japan is available but we didn’t have any fuel for the trucks, so we couldn’t move. Fuel is being delivered again this week so maybe we will test soon.”