From a press release issued by Mat Mladin Motorsports:

AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship
Daytona International Speedway, Florida, USA
Dunlop tyre test

MLADIN: SUPERBIKES HAVE OUTGROWN DAYTONA

Daytona Beach, Florida, USA (Thursday, 11 December) – The annual Dunlop tyre test at the famed Daytona International Speedway in Florida, came to an abrupt end after two of the scheduled three days and has raised serious questions and doubts about the leading superbike riders taking to the circuit for the opening round of the 2004 Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship on March 6.

The drama began after Yamaha rider, Jason DiSalvo crashed at over 270kph (170mph) on the circuit’s ultra-fast banked section on the second day of the test. The cause of the accident was an alleged rear tyre failure and is the fourth high-speed incident to have occurred this year.

The incident saw Dunlop officials call a premature end to the test for the Superbike riders, leaving just the 600cc Supersport competitors out on the track for the third and final day.

The 2003 season saw a number of high speed tyre failures, including that of four-times American Superbike Champion Mat Mladin who had a rear tyre let go at 270kph (170mph) while leading the opening race at Road Atlanta in May. The day prior a privateer rider had a tyre fail at almost the same place as Mladin, leaving the rider with multiple injuries.

In October, Mladin’s Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Ben Spies had a rear tyre fail at Daytona during an end of season test at Daytona. He suffered severe abrasions and is still unable to ride.

The spate of tyre problems has left chief supplier Dunlop working frantically on finding a solution. This week’s three-day test was designed to sort through more tyres in preparation for next March’s opening round of the championship the Daytona 200.

This week’s tyre failure has left a number of riders concerned and undecided as to the role that they will play in that opening race, including Mladin, a two-time winner at Daytona and he is very concerned at the latest incident and it’s ramifications.

“We were told in a meeting with Dunlop, the day before the test started, that they essentially assured us (the riders) there wasn’t going to be any trouble with the tyres of the same sort we have had in the past, with tyre deflation etc,” said Mladin.

“Unfortunately there was one such incident on the second day of the test and as I’ve said many times, the bikes and the speed of the new 1000cc motorbikes has gotten beyond what this race track is capable of and the tyres cannot handle the abuse that they are given around here.

“The point that must be made and I’ve said before, Dunlop cannot be held totally responsible for what is happening. Any tyre manufacturer that would come here and see what goes on with tyres would be pulling their hair out with trying to develop tyres for this track. They (Dunlop) cannot be held responsible, we have to hold someone responsible at other tracks and Dunlop may be partly to blame there, but here the AMA need to look at what’s going on and the performance of the motorcycle.

“The bikes have increased in performance so much in the past five years that it is becoming frightening. The new Honda did essentially 310kph (190mph) on the 31 degree banking and with all of the funny things that happen on the banking, the G forces are unbelievable.

“If something is not done about it, I certainly won’t be racing in the 200 under the circumstances we are at, at the moment. I would rather put a set of tyres on a 600 Supersport and race that, rather than a 200+hp Superbike as no one can guarantee our safety when it comes to tyres here. Motorcycle racing is full of inherent dangers and things that go wrong, but it has come to a point where there are no guarantees that you’ll come around the next lap, even if you don’t do anything wrong and I think that’s a risk not worth taking.

“Tyre wear is also not the issue or the reason why for the failures. Ben (Spies) had a tyre fail after about four or five laps and then (Jason) DiSalvo had one let go after about ten laps on a 1000cc Superstock bike and we’ve got to do 20 laps on a tyre in the 200 race.

“The problem Dunlop is facing is that they just don’t know why it’s happening. They think they’ve got a handle on why it happened and then they’ve got another failure. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticising Dunlop for not working on the problem as I know that they’ve worked day and night on this. I can’t fault them for the amount of work and time they’ve put in over the past three months, it’s been incredible. The bottom line is that the speeds and the forces generated on the banking, I don’t think can be replicated in a closed testing environment and that makes it hard. The banking does have what feels like very sharp holes, what would feel like stutter bumps on a motocross bike, but at 270kph, so is this additional load causing the tyre to fracture. That’s the thing at the moment, we just don’t know.

“This is a big problem and it needs to be addressed now. What is going to happen in a few years time when the manufacturers start to develop 240hp bikes? Just six years ago we had 155hp and now we have just over 200. One day it has to come to a point where it seriously needs to be addressed.

“We know that Daytona is the worst track on the calendar as far as safety goes, but getting it taken off the calendar won’t happen next year, so something has to be done quickly. I think the series has outgrown Daytona. Even the 600cc Supersport bikes are doing 270kph (170mph) on the banking.

“We’re going to speeds with these 1000cc bikes of over 320kph after they’ve been in the draft and that’s crazy as you are surrounded by a concrete wall. So far the recent incidents have been during practice, but what will happen if a tyre fails during the race when there’s a five-bike train happening and there are five riders on the track at 270k’s and a field of bikes following them. You can imagine it’s not going to be good.

“We met the AMA officials late on Wednesday afternoon to discuss ways of fixing it so that the race will happen next year, with less than three months before the race, a lot of things will need to be sorted out.”

Mladin left the Daytona circuit on Wednesday afternoon and will return to Australia for the festive season, before resuming his testing commitments with Yoshimura Suzuki in January.