Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

FIRST PERSON/OPINION

Via e-mail:

There was considerable press leading into this year’s Daytona 200 about tires. There were a few problems during the tire test that have been pretty well documented so I won’t go into that again. However: Privateers were not involved in the test so some of us use the CCS weekend to do our testing.

When I first got to the Speedway I checked in with the Dunlop people. Thursday morning afforded us two practice sessions prior to the CCS 200-mile endurance race held that afternoon. This would be my first opportunity to get a feel for the tire designated to be used in the AMA 200 the following weekend.

The race was a strange one with the red flag and all. We (Brian Shaw and myself) had won the race in October with a two-stop strategy. This time Brian started the race and went for 18 laps. We watched the performance drop off about 3 seconds a lap. When he handed the bike off to me, he told me I would be pissed for him trashing the tire. The tire was basically unridable with no grip at all. Please let me make this very clear, the tire was built for 18 laps and we tried to stretch this out. Dunlop built a tire to last the speeds the 1000s were going and they succeeded. Using this race for testing revealed two things, the tires gripped for two or three laps then fell off (performance wise) dramatically.

Afterwards, I went to the Dunlop garage and began to question what tires would be available for Daytona 200 qualifying. I was told by three separate people that what I had been using would be what I would have to qualify on. All three of the tire reps advised that there would be no “Q” (qualifying) tires. Armed with this information I made my plans for the rest of the weekend by trying DOTs and combos of DOTs and slicks. I came up with a combo I was happy with and would get me in the program.

Forward to Wednesday qualifying for the Daytona 200. With my tire selection made I attempted to enter the track but was stopped by AMA officials. I was told I could not use the DOTs because this was a slick spec class. With no time for discussion I had no choice but to change the tires. I went out on cold tires and crashed my brains out. My own fault.

After the qualifying session I went to discuss with the AMA about the tire situation. No one could show me in writing (the rulebook or the meet supplemental regulations) where DOTs were excluded. I checked with Dunlop and as far as they knew the tires were approved. All of this was after Bostrom uncorked a monster lap giving him the pole.

Licking my wounds that night I watched Wind Tunnel and guess what…both Boz bros. were on Q tires (one M and one D). I was livid that I was lied to by the vendor I had been supporting for better than 15 years. The next morning I went to the Dunlop garage and requested a Q tire and was told there were none available. Well, the rest is history–I used up three slicks trying to get up to speed and couldn’t get the job done. The previous weekend I had been as much as a-second-a-lap faster on the DOTs on a very cold track.

My beef is: The tire manufactures make Q tires for the bragging rights to the pole position and more importantly the points that are awarded to the pole winner. Can anyone see the problems with this?

1. The pole and cutoff time become unrealistic as far as the actual race pace will go. The cutoff time (which has also been reduced this year) becomes more difficult to make. If a privateer is not provided the same tire choice for qualifying they may not make the grid. I don’t think spectators will want to go to Road America or Mid Ohio and see 15-bike fields. We don’t want to even think what the TV coverage would look like.

2. Q tires work, they work well, what if the tire rep decides to give a chosen rider a better Q tire than the rest? Doesn’t that give the manufacturer the power to select who wins the pole. Won’t that also give the manufacturer the power to select who will win the Championship based on the 11 points acquired by winning the pole?

These issues were brought to the attention of (AMA Road Racing Manager) Ron Barrick. His response was that they (the AMA) know that it is a problem but they have no way of fixing it so they will allow it to continue as is.

My recommendations would be: Take away the qualifying points and have all riders start on the tire they qualified on. This works well in F1, why not AMA?

Rick Shaw
AMA Superbike #79
Miami, Florida




This just in from AMA Pro Racing Chief Steward Laura Perry:

I was the official who told Rick Shaw he could not go out on DOT tires in the Superbike qualifying session. The wording in the 2004 rulebook is:

“4. Tires

Only non-DOT, racing tires are permitted.”

I don’t know who he asked from the AMA who would have been unable to show him this rule since it is in the printed rulebook.

Laura Perry
Athens, Alabama