Volcano forces MotoGP reshuffle

Over the last week or so, a fat cloud of invisible volcanic ash originating in Iceland and floating through the troposphere has been wreaking havoc with plane travel.

For international motor racing, this rare event has been a major headache. It's been a chaotic week for the MotoGP world championship, throwing the schedule into disarray.

The Japanese round of the MotoGP had been postponed until October 3 as getting to Japan was proving more and more difficult for racers and crew as thousands of flights were cancelled, and the locals are understandably disappointed.

But things are slowly starting to return to normal as Mother-nature's gaseous expulsion recedes.

Dorna Sports, the organisers of the MotoGP championship season, has said that all of the cargo that did make its way to Japan is now being packed up and will arrive in Europe in time for round two at the Jerez circuit in Spain.

"The three Boeing 747 aeroplanes used to transport the 270 tonnes of materials necessary for every round on the MotoGP calendar have been fully prepared to return to Europe from Japan," reads the MotoGP's press statement.

Round two in Spain will begin on May 2, and Dorna has two alternative routes planned should the trio of Boeing 747s not be given clearance to fly a direct route. They are scheduled to leave Japan on Sunday April 25.

According to Dorna, the amount of materials that are flown around the world between each round of the MotoGP championship is huge. All told there's almost 300 tonnes of cargo crammed into 600 cases comprising:

- Bikes and team materials (180 tonnes),
- Dorna equipment needed for TV broadcasting (50 tonnes)
- Advertising materials (23 tonnes)
- Timing equipment (seven tonnes)
- Official BMW cars and motorbikes of the World Championship (5.5 tonnes)