Roadracingworld.com received the following letter on June 17th, 10 days after after the June 5-7 AMA Pro Racing weekend at Road America, where riders in the age-restricted Supersport class were required to use a pre-determined, relatively hard-compound Dunlop spec front tire regardless of conditions. Following a practice session held in 40 degree F ambient temperature, Libby Wikle, (mother of Supersport racer Russ Wikle and wife of former AMA Pro Superbike racer Luther Wikle), circulated a petition among parents and sponsors of Supersport racers, asking that the young racers be given a choice of tires suitable for track conditions. Libby Wikle presented the petition to AMA Pro Racing officials at the track, who told her that tire choice was not a safety issue and that young riders should all learn to race on the hard tires regardless of conditions, and that doing so would result in excellent races! Libby Wikle’s account of what happened next is seen below. FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I spoke with (AMA Pro Racing’s) Bill Syfan today regarding the Supersport tire issue. He said the decision had been made not to allow us to choose tire compound. They had meetings, conferred with Dunlop, it had gone “to the top” and the decision had been made. His explanation was based on the cost factor. He said the class was originally designed for dads and sons on a budget, (but admitted it had morphed into several factory sponsored teams as well), and compound choice would force the lower budgeted teams to buy additional tires in order to choose the appropriate tire to run at each event. I did not say this — but it is less expensive to purchase two different compounds than to repair the crashed bike due to the AMA/Dunlop’s incorrect tire choice! Anyway, he also mentioned the petition and said it only listed 16 teams, which he considered were the “high budget” ones — not the “poor” ones (my tongue-in-cheek description, not his). I explained that I had gotten those 16 (100% of the teams approached) in under an hour at Road America, and I wanted to submit something in hopes of a tire compound change that day. He also said there was an issue on Dunlop’s part of cost and room in their truck to bring more tires to each event. We feel this class is being used as the tire dump for the tires nobody wants — and we feel this is a safety issue. So far Dunlop/AMA has picked the wrong tire at each race which is understandable — who can predict the weather/track conditions? I do not understand the whole premise of no choice for this class! How is it logical, that experienced Superbike/Sportbike riders are choosing compounds at each event, and the “inexperienced” Supersport class is then not allowed to run the same compound? And as far as cost goes — this is not club racing. An additional tire is not going to break anybody! But if we WERE club racing we would have tire choice! Also, Bill mentioned that they would announce their decision at the next riders’ meeting. He said since we did not publicize the issue they would not either. WE ARE READY TO PUBLICIZE IT! Libby Wikle Huntsville, Alabama On July 22nd, Roadracingworld.com received a copy of the following letter from Ivan Lazo, father of Supersport racer Alex Lazo, addressed to Dunlop’s Jim Allen and several AMA Pro Racing officials. Lazo, like other parents of young Supersport racers, was concerned about a rash of front-end crashes in the class. In the meantime, Libby Wikle had continued to collect signatures on her petition at Laguna Seca and Mid-Ohio, to counter AMA Pro Racing’s claim that it was not representative of the class. FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: To: Jim Allen Re: Tire selection AMA Supersport Dear Mr. Allen: I would like to take a moment, introduce myself and voice a concern which I have had now for a couple of the East Coast AMA rounds. My name is Ivan Lazo, my son Alex Lazo races in the AMA Supersport(SS) and Daytona Sportbike(DSB) classes. We have, during these race rounds, had the opportunity to use both the 209 Sportmax GP-A soft and medium compound front tires. We have taken the soft fronts after 20 race laps at AMA rounds and run them hard during practice days at VIR, Heartland Park, Barber and Mid-Ohio for total of 60-80 laps each tire. We have found the GP-A soft fronts to be predictable and consistent in grip and durability during both hot and cool days. We have on repeated occasions experienced inconsistent behavior from the medium compound fronts resulting in unpredictable front-end slides. This brings me to our latest outing at Mid-Ohio AMA. During this round Alex crashed while qualifying using a medium front. He was not on the brakes and had just started to transition right while still on the gas somewhere just before entering the chicane at Turn #2. His description of what occurred, “the front just went.” He slid, the bike cart-wheeled and trashed itself, the fans gasped and we picked up the pieces, just a fabulous show for all. We finished the weekend on our other bike which is identical to the first. Saturday we ran DSB race #1 with a soft front and not as much as a “chirp” from the front end. Sunday we ran DSB race #2 without as much as a “chirp.” We changed tires as per SS rules, used a medium front and guess what happened? The front came lose four times during the SS race. Fortunately, he was able to save the crash each time. Now these races were back-to-back, conditions similar, bikes about the same, rider about the same. There were numerous wrecks during that SS race, I suspect 90% were from front-end tucks. Several of these kids are already using soft compound fronts in DSB, then they have to run with a tire that behaves differently in SS. I learned yesterday that there was a petition circulated at Road America revolving around the topic of tire choice for SS. I suspect the reasons for that petition were similar to what is described in this letter. I feel my son is currently being subjected to greater than necessary risk by not having a choice to use the soft front during SS races. I by no means would question the judgment of engineers and manufacturers, I am certain the data you have compiled would support whatever position you choose to uphold. I would only ask you to seriously consider allowing these riders to make a choice. A choice which appears to make sense from this end user’s real-world application of your product. A choice which I feel would help develop better riders without additional risk. A choice which from this father’s perspective would promote good will and give many parents in the AMA paddock a little extra piece of mind. Ivan E. Lazo Danville, Virginia The policy of requiring young Supersport racers to run a Dunlop spec front tire with a harder compound than tires selected by seasoned professionals continued at Heartland Park Topeka on July 31-August 2, and parents continued to complain of needless front-end crashes caused by the policy. Libby Wikle gathered more signatures at Heartland Park, where she gave Roadracingworld.com the updated copy of her petition seen here. On August 6th, we received another e-mail from Libby Wikle, seen below. FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I sending this regarding the AMA’s response to a petition I submitted at Elkhart to Colin Fraser, and discussed with Roger Edmondson, regarding the tire compound issue in the Supersport class. After receiving positive feedback from the Colin and Roger, I was surprised and disappointed with the negative response from Bill Syfan. We have had 3 rounds since our conversation, and the AMA has yet to make an official response to our concerns. Bill had said it would be announced at the next riders’ meeting. Since Elkhart, I have continued to get signatures from anyone I missed at previous rounds, and to date have 30 rider/sponsor signatures. Every parent I spoke with signed, with the exception of one. Each person commented at length about their concerns with running the hard front compound. I wish I had also tallied the number of crashes that each rider felt was due largely to the hard tire – losing the front end. This is a safety issue, not a cost issue. Every participant agreed they would gladly buy an extra tire to avoid the consequence of a wrecked bike (or two in some cases!). At the last round (Topeka) one of the Supersport riders told me he had spoken with Bill Syfan about a different issue, and Bill told him to “spread the word” to the riders that we would be running soft fronts at the next two rounds. I asked him if he was sure that is what was said, and he said yes, that Bill had told him to let everyone know. Luther and I saw (AMA Pro Racing’s) Roy Janson and I asked him about the decision and if they would consider allowing us to run soft fronts at the Topeka event as well. Mr. Janson said that the decision was not made yet, and sounded doubtful about any change happening. When Luther asked if he would put his kid out in 40 degree weather on a hard front tire, Janson said Luther was making personal attacks. I then lost my temper and told him that it IS personal for me when my kid is about to lose the front at every corner! A little over stated, I admit, but I have had it with the inane excuses to something that is as simple and obvious to fix as this. Ask any Daytona SportBike rider what front they would prefer, and 90% would say soft. When we were at Elkhart, it was 40 degrees and they required us to run hard front tires. Anyone would know that is not the compound to use in those conditions. When Luther confronted AMA Pro Racing’s Al Ludington about this, the ridiculous response was – well, they are all on the same front tire, and if all of them can find the same traction limit in all the corners, where they are all about to tuck the front at the same time – what a great race it would be! There is no response to that mentality. It is astonishing that this is what we are dealing with at this level of competition. And what are we supposed to do when one of the Dunlop tire technicians told us to tell our riders not to go for it for the first four-six laps until the tires start to work better? We expected more cooperation with this obvious issue of safety that is easily resolved. Libby Wikle Huntsville, Alabama Reaction from an AMA SuperSport rider: FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: After reading the responses from concerned parents and riders over Dunlop forcing Supersport riders to use the harder front tires, I can’t help but to agree with everything written. With the exception of one thing. While I do think it’s unfair for Dunlop/AMA to assume the less-experience riders are not smart enough to choose which tires keeps the bike under them instead of over them, I don’t think we so much need a choice as much as a change. “He also said there was an issue on Dunlop’s part of cost and room in their truck to bring more tires to each event.” (taken from Mrs. Wikle’s first e-mail) Even if we were given a choice between the softer and harder tires, it was made clear what the choice would be. If you want to make the choice for us, make it a safe choice. Instead of forcing the tires that no one wants to use, force us on the good tires. It would be better for everyone. In my opinion, Dunlop is shooting their selves in the foot. My dad owns a motorcycle shop, where we sell the take-offs we use at each race. Some of the people we tried selling the hard/medium front tires laugh and say they don’t want them after hearing the reviews from the riders. How is this helping Dunlop sell tires? Another issue brought up was saving money. At Road Atlanta Supersport was ran on soft fronts. How many crashes were there that weekend vs. what there is now? The next race at Barber when we were switched to hard fronts the top 5 riders went down on Friday practice from them. Plus a whole litter of others. Now, when I rode a 125, on Dunlops, I preferred the harder tires (D instead of a B or C) because while they had just a little bit less initial traction, they had a much bigger window of sliding which on a 125 is very important. Therefore I was able to ride faster and more comfortably on the harder tires. Having ridden on both tires, the soft is a much better tire, with more contact patch from what I was told from Dunlop, much more window and much more grip and feel. Usually a harder compound will give more window to work with. When the tire begins to slide it goes away slowly and more consistently. With these tires on the other hand, it’s the other way around. When the front end is lost there is no feeling what so ever that it’s going. It’s just gone. After talking with other riders that have crashed using it, I now feel less crazy about this notion. Everyone I have talked to said the same thing. Theoretically, having a spec tire is not a bad idea. Look at World Superbike, best racing in the world? But while a spec tire does not necessarily need great traction, it needs a window that’s rideable. Dunlop needs to make a decision that’s better for the riders instead of for them. They need to choose tires based on performance, not profitability. I missed the petition going around since I was unable to attend the last few races (partially because of the hard front). But if I would have been there I would have signed it immediately and happily. Maybe none of the complaints will work and all we’re creating is a mockery of the series. So wouldn’t it be better for Dunlop to change the rules now before it gets out of hand? Kris Turner Chattanooga, Tennessee