Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

AMA and Daytona International Speedway officials have contacted or plan to contact representatives from Michelin and Pirelli, to ask them to test tires at the Florida track on January 25-26, 2004. Dunlop will also attend the test.

The AMA and Daytona officials are trying to determine if the recent serious tire woes experienced by Dunlop riders at the Speedway are symptomatic of a problem with 1000cc Superbikes and Superstock machines or if they are related to some problem with Dunlop’s design, construction or quality control.

An exploding 16.5-inch Dunlop slick on a Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike sent Ben Spies sliding at 186 mph at Daytona in October, and an exploding 17-inch Dunlop slick on a Graves Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock bike threw Jason DiSalvo at 172 mph yesterday.

No tires run on Superbike and Superstock racebikes exploded during a Michelin tire test at Daytona December 4-6. During that test, 16.5-inch Superbike slicks were tested on Ducati Austin 999 Superbikes and on Valvoline EMGO Suzuki GSX-R1000s in Superstock trim. Valvoline EMGO Suzuki also tested 17-inch treaded tires and slicks on the GSX-R1000s, at Michelin’s request. The Valvoline EMGO Suzuki GSX-R1000s reached 182.5 mph across the tri-oval during the test, while the Ducati Austin 999 reached 184 mph, measured with a radar gun.

Pirelli Racing Manager Jeff Johnston, reached via cell phone while he was visiting West Coast Pirelli racing tire distributors Wednesday, said that he has not heard anything from Daytona or AMA officials about the proposed emergency tire test at the Florida Superspeedway.

“We would love to come down and test on those days and will be able to give a firm commitment after I speak to our international racing manager, Eddie Roberts,” said Johnston. “We’ve never had a problem with a steel-belted-radial tire at Daytona, and we’ve been racing there with our steel-belted radials since 1995. While it’s a unique layout and racetrack, for us it’s really about compound development rather than about safety development. Of course, both are related to an extent. At this upcoming test with good teams and good equipment we should be able to turn more-than-competitive times with our current product, and think we would still have enough time to develop some new tires to test, also. Pirelli has consistently proven with excellent results at Daytona that we make products that are up to the task in terms of competitive lap times and in terms of providing riders with a safe product to compete on.”