Series honors memory of Tomizawa

MotoGP honours Shoya Tomizawa's memory

Confirmation of the official tributes to be made to the Japanese rider who will posthumously receive the Michel Metraux award, be honoured with a minute's silence at Aragon this weekend and have his number 48 retired.

Just under two weeks on from the tragic death of Shoya Tomizawa, winner of the inaugural Moto2 race in Qatar in April of this year and who passed away at the Misano World Circuit on Sunday 5th September, a number of official tributes have been decided upon to honour the Japanese rider.

The entire MotoGP World Championship has reconvened in the Paddock at Aragon in Spain this weekend for the first time since Shoya's untimely passing, and is united in its wishes to ensure that the popular rider's memory is honoured. Many inside the Paddock have been making their own gestures with Shoya's Technomag-CIP team displaying a miniature version of his bike in the team garage and a large number of riders wearing the Japanese rider's number 48 on their leathers, helmets or bikes.

In Thursday's official pre-event press conference Moto2 Championship leader Toni Elias suggested that his fellow riders vote for Shoya as the recipient of this season's Michel Metraux trophy, and they have done so unanimously. The award recognises the best rider in the category as selected by his competitors and Michel Metraux's son Olivier will present the trophy to Shoya's family at the next Grand Prix in Japan, after IRTA collected the votes at Aragon on Friday morning.

It has also been decided that in recognition of Shoya's contribution to the sport his number 48 will be retired from the Moto2 World Championship, and his family will receive a memorial plaque with his number on it.

On Sunday, following the MotoGP warm up session for the Gran Premio A-Style de Aragon and at a time yet to be confirmed, the MotoGP community will gather on the main start/finish straight of the circuit where a minute's silence will be held as a final farewell to Shoya, who was laid to rest in Japan earlier this week.

-source: motogp