Michelin made a couple of costly blunders, no-
tably at Laguna Seca in 2008, after snootily de-
clining to take part in a pre-race tire test there.
By then the French company was already on
the back foot, with one rider after another de-
manding to switch to the ever-improving Bridge-
stones. Rossi was the first; Dani Pedrosa fol-
lowed, rather sensationally mid-season.
At the same time, all three tire companies
had been engaged in a protracted game of hide
and seek with Dorna's Carmelo Ezpeleta, striv-
ing to bring vaulting costs under control. For
some years attempts to limit tire numbers and
tests had failed to make headway. As the fight
between Bridgestone and Michelin continued
to escalate, Carmelo put his foot down. From
2009, MotoGP would run on control tires.
Michelin withdrew, Bridgestone reluctantly
accepted.
They've made their blunders too. During 2012
there was a particularly bad spell of tires that
were treacherously difficult to warm up. Out-lap
or first flying lap highsiders were very frequent;
victims were many. Including all the big names.
The matter was fixed, but the chorus of com-
plaint about how long it took resounded.
Only last year came the debacle at Phillip Is-
land, when the race not only had to be shortened
on the unexpectedly abrasive new surface, but
with a compulsory bike-change pit-stop for new
tires.
Overall, however, the achievement has been
impressive, considering that these are one-size-
fits-all covers. The current Bridgestones warm
up well, grip well, and last extremely well. Often
the last laps are the fastest, and race lap records
continued to tumble. Although there are still cir-
cuits where the 2008 "tire wars" lap times, set
on supersoft qualifiers, have yet to be bettered
– Le Mans, Catalunya, Sachsenring and Qatar,
where the 2008 lap record also still stands.
Bridgestone's decision to quit has left every-
one staring into the abyss. It's not a pretty sight.
There is slim comfort in the knowledge that at
least it's the same for everybody. CN
VOL. 51 ISSUE 19 MAY 13, 2014 P123
LOOKING BACK
40 Years Ago
May 21, 1974
Enduro riders were pictured on the cover
of Cycle News 40 years ago to accom-
pany our coverage of the Black Hills En-
duro in Washington. Mike Hennen, on a
Bultaco, was the overall winner… Marty
Smith, Pierre Karsmakers and Kenny
Zahrt were the big winners at the AMA
MX Qualifier at Valley Cycle Park in Cali-
fornia… The issue also had our coverage
of the Belgian 250 MX GP won by Sylvain Geboers… We also
had a feature on the 1974 works bikes of the MX GP circuit.
30 Years Ago
May 23,1984
Eddie Lawson was pictured on the
cover for winning the Spanish GP… We
covered the Ascot Half Mile where Scott
Parker edged out Ricky Graham by a
wheel for the win… It was a Honda sweep
at the Atlanta National Motocross, where
Johnny O'Mara (125), Ron Lechien
(250) and David Bailey (500) all won…
It was another close one in Indiana where
Mike Melton edged out Johnny Martin for the Burr Oak Na-
tional Enduro win.
20 Years Ago
May 18, 1994
Mike Kiedrowski made front-page news
for winning the Seattle Supercross at
the Kingdome. A flat tire prevented Jer-
emy McGrath from clinching the title…
Scott Russell also got a portion of the
cover for grabbing a win at the Donington
Park World Superbike… Ty Davis won
the Wells-to-Wendover National Hare &
Hound.
10 Years Ago
May 19, 2004
Brian Jorgensen was featured on the
cover for winning his first MX1-class GP
in Germany… The WORCS Series trav-
eled to Colorado and the Avalanche OHV
Park where Nathan Woods left with the
win… For the first time, the Minimoto Su-
percross was held at the Orleans Arena in
Las Vegas. Tommy Hofmaster and Jer-
emy McGrath were some of the night's big winners.
Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News
Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives