Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Proposed AMA/CCS Supersport "spec tire" rule stirs controversy By Brian Catterson A controversial " spec tire" rule, requiring all competitors to use the same brand and model of tire, has been proposed for the 1989-91 AMA Championship Cup Series. 26 " Wh ile a spec tir e race m ay have its pl ace," said a Mich el in spokesma n who decli ned to be named , " It 's no t at a n AMA National. " " We're opposed to it a nd everyone I' ve spoken to with th e exce p tio n o f Roger Edmondson an d th e AMA is opposed to it," said T on y Mills o f The proposal if appro ved Yokohama tires ) in Japan , with Dunlop. " We d idn 't see h ow we would see th e 'Yokoha ma 003 further negot ia tio ns sched u led for cou ld co me up with th e money. We'd dira I desi ted as th e o n IY a nd Yoko J anua ry 17, between Kayo Tuesday, Ra esigna hama. have lO ta ke it out of so mew here else tire eligible for use in 600cc "Yokohama was very impressed in th e m otorcycle di vision." Mills also exp ressed a n interest in a nd 750cc Su pe rsport co mpetitio n with th e p ro posal, " Murp hy sai d on Monday, J anuar y 16. " We have a . protecting th e Dunlop tire vendors: a nd would al so see the co m pa n y pay " It 's not a very lucra tive weekendfor AMA /CCS so m e $720,000 over a positive p rogram (CCS), a serio us th e tir e vendors an ywa y, but to cu t three-year per iod for series sponsorco m pany (Yokoha m a ), a nd th e AMA o u t 50% of their potential tir e sa les sh ip title righ ts, race purses a nd is curren tly under g o in g a legal is unfair. " funds to be used in a n effort to ob tain revi ew (o f th e proposa l ). We ' re Of all th e manufacturers , Metzeler television co verage of th e series . hopi ng to h ave a press co nfe rence was th e least critica l of the spec tir e In a letter to Metzeler Mo torcycl e Withi n. th e nex t two weeks." co ncep t. wi th th ei r o n ly objectio n Tire Agent Gre/?g, In c, the U.S. ~avl d Graha m of .Kayo , r~ached co ncer n i n g tracks ide ven dors. A Me tze1e r t ire d i s tr ib utor , d ated pnor to leaving for Japan, sa l~ that statement prepared by Metzel er 's August 10, 1988, a nd ob tained by Yokohama w~s prepar~d ~o In k a Cycle N ews, Pa trick Mu rp h y of P M cont~a~t pending tl.le sig ru ng of a . Rob ert G regg rea d: " With respect to Com m u ni ca tions, the m arketing televlslO~ dea l covenng a ll 10 rounds , DOT productio n tir es, Metzeler feels th ese tir es shou ld be purch ased from arm for th e AMAlCCS, described the o f ,~he ser ies. . dea lers and n ot be mad e availa ble a t situa tions leading up to th e spec tire . T~,e co rn ersto ne of tl~~ s. prothe track a t a ny price. gram, t~e proposal reads, WI ll be co ncep t: " Ea rli er th is season Roger " With respect to potential 'spec Edmondson, foun der o f th e Cha mthe televIsed .coverage of a ll eve~ts ti re' rules, Metzeler 's position is th at pionship Cup Series (CCS) an d the on th e !,'auo na l c hampio us h i p we wi ll wholeheartedly sup port a ny natio n a l cha m p ionsh ip Supersport sch~u le. . . . . pro gram th at in creases investment No menuon IS made of a specific Series, was approached by a tire in, or su p port of, racing ac tivities. ca b le networ~, nor wo u ld ~lurph.y ma n ufacturer regardin g an excl usive In partic u la r, Metzeler is interested agreement in natio na l cha m p io n elabora te, say~ng onl y that negouin p ro grams that p ro vide co ntingin sh ip Supersport raci ng. a~lOns are going on on ~ co u pl e of cies to th e largest possible number . " differen t fron ts. The television righ ts are cu rre n tly ow ned by the AMA an d Because of th e broad support that o f riders. Of those rid ers th e more th e event p rorn o ter s.T' ve had discusMr. Edmon dson ha s received fr?m grass ro ots, club level a n d n onthe ~otorcycle u.re t!1 d ust ry, hIS fir st sions wi th a number o f the event sponsored riders th at win m oney, th e n:a<:uOl~ was to di smiss th e Idea. After promoters an d th ey have always been bette r. . giv mg It !!lore th ought, he began to fa vora ble." " 1£ it en co u ra ges ra cing in other wonder If. the co ncep t COUld. be One ave n ue th at was previousl y ways we wish th e sponsors well an d o pe n to CCS was the Prime Ticket developed.Int.o.a p rogram ~hat .m Igh t harbor no hard feelings." make a sig n ifican t co n tribu tio n to cab le net work, o n wh ich Keith Code Another maj or area o f co nce rn is o f th e Ca lifornia Superb ike Schoo l th e ~port o f.motorcy cle road. racmg. co n flict in g sponsorship deals. While ~ndln sodolng,help allparuclpants a n d Paul Winters o f W intertree Graham sa id that th ere would be no In th e sport as a whole. Producti ons (who co llabora ted on Yokohama-sponsored rider s in the " T o th a t .en d CC S h as developed . th e video adapt ati on o f Code 's Supersport ra ces, those wi th Dunlop succe ssfu l road racing book " A T wis t th e fo llo ~ ln g p~opo sal for. yo ur an d Michelin deal s ma y h ave to co!1s l dera u~n . ThIS proposal IS a lso of the Wri st " ) hav e secu red a 10-show o verco me some ser io us obs ta cles . being su bm itted to o ther mo torcycle sched u le - n in e one- hour shows Among th ese sponsored racers are tire m anufacturers in the interes t o f p lus a 90-minute series deb u t tha t Yoshirnura- cornra cred rid er s who fai rness." would ai r in la te March and again have si gn ed a one-year Mich elin in Ma y. Under the. terms o f th e p ro posal , dea l. Code had ca lled the tir e manufacth e selected ure co m pany would have " We ' recentl y a ligne d o u rse lves to m ak e a "s izable co m m itme!1t t~ turer s lo okin g for spo nso rs hi p with Michel in ," Yoshimura's Du ane th e .sPOrt of motorcycl e racing, money, a n d had al rea dy received a J ohnson sa id. " So we (Yosh im u ra sigru ng a three-year (1989-9 1) co n co m m itme nt fr om D unl o p , w ho teamsters Doug Polen , Scott Russell tra ct wo~th $240,000 per ~ n n u m : pro vide tires for h is sc hool's a nd T om Lyn ch ) would be unable $ 190,000 In excha nge fo r services an d machi nes. He wanted to showcas e to co mpete in the Su persport Series ben efits, $ I O, ~ in sponsorship fees, th e Su persport classes d uri ng h is if Yokohama wa s the desi ~n ated tire. television series , b ut if th e Yok op lus $40,000 In p u rses ($2000 pe r And as defending cha mp io n (Po len hama deal goes th ro u gh , he has cla ss a t as m any as 10 events ). wo n th e 600 an d 750cc titl es in 1988) in both clas ses, we feel it 's a great The proposal di ctates th at th e in form ed CCS that he will pull ou t loss." selected tire co mpany wou ld have to a nd cover th e WERA Formula USA Bill Alt ma n o f Michelin's ra cin g provide a sa les a n d mountin g serv ice Series ins tea d. at each event, a nd mak e a n adeq ua te Youngblood doesn ' t see this as a di vision co nc u rs: " T h a t is co rrec t. su p p ly o f ap proved tires (at least two p roblem : " We haven 't mad e a deal They (Mich elin -co ntra cted rider s) co m p le te sets, fro nt and rear, per would be forbidden to enter a ny spec w it h a nyon e ... n ot wi th Keith tir e class (req u irin g use o f a co m co mpetitor) availa ble a t a COSl n o Code. Pa t (Mu rp hy ) is talking to a pe tito r's tir es)." grea ter th an th e published wh ol esal e number o f different peop le. " Another race program je opardized (dea ler) cos t. Wh en as ked if he wa s worri ed that by th e spec tir e deal is Yamaha 's In return, riders would be required th ey would not be able to secu re TV to di splay th e tire m anufacturer 's co ver a g e in tim e for Da yt on a , proposed four-man assault on th e logo o n th eir ma chines. 600cc Supersport race a t Daytona. Youn gbl o od a d mi tted it wasn 't Yamaha's Ken Clark exp la ins: " All Ed Youngb lood, president of th e going . to be easy. " T he thing I'm AMA , co n firme d that proposa ls were most uncomfortabl e with is the o UT riders (T ea m Nordica Ro berts' sent out in August of 1988, and whil e timing," h e said. J oh n Kocinski and Thomas Stevens, th ere was no immediate response, If th e spec tire d eal d o es go p lu s Cam Roos and Jamie James ) hav e Dun lop co n trac ts." Yoko ha ma later showed interest. through, th ere will be no ven ue for " We couldn't su p port th em in th e On Su nday, January IS, Murphy o ther tir e m anufacturers to showcase same manner," said Dunlop's Tony and Edmondson returned from two th eir DOT-approved rubber durin g Mills. " O n e of th e op tio ns is telling days o f m eetings with Yokohama a n AMA-sancuoned National Chamour riders that th ey ca n 't co m pete in and representatives o f th e Ka yo pionsh ip weekend. An d so me o f Supersport, " Corporation (U .S. di stributors of them are justifiably upset. An other issu e that bears exa m ination is safety , though Youngblood adamantly denies that th ere should be a ny co nce rn. " I can't believe a nyone would think that Yokoharna's tires would be unsafe," he said. "T h ey're built to DOT standards; built to government spec ifica tio ns. I'd be surp rised to see a n yone willing to put hi s name behind that sta teme n t." We found a few. Like Rob Muzzy of Muzzy R&D, the man behi nd both Kawasaki 's and Yamaha 's proposed road ra ci ng effort s: " I don 't think that anyone co m p an y ca n provide enou gh quality tir es for a ll th e co m peri tor s. My personal feeling is th at It' S going to be a n un safe con di tio n . In m y opin io n . Yok ohama doesn 't h ave a tire ca pab le o f handl in g th e p ower th at som e o f th ese bikes (the 750s) p u t ou t. (Dou g) Pol en j us t did I:59s a t Daytona on a Su persport bike!" And Ken Clark o f Yamaha , w ho said , " I as ked him (a Yok ohama representativ e) h o w mu ch ex perie nce th ey had o n th e h igh banks o f Da,ytona a nd he sai d, ' We' ll be ,, o ka y. " It will be implem ented a t w hat is probabl y th e m ost potentially dangerous trac k in th e world," said Bill Altman o f Mich elin. " You don't m ess a ro u nd a t Daytona, 'cause it' ll bite you. " Several people we co n tac ted said that th e withdrawal of co mpetitive tire companies' cornin gincies, plus th e rumored threatened withdrawl of Suzuki and Yamaha contingency programs, leaves a void that is unlikely to be filled by th e $2000 per class purse stated in th e proposal, an d that th e cost of the tires, which many riders wer e receiving for free from their sponsors would have the riders ra cing for far less money. "The on ly ones that will profit will be Yokohama," sa id Clark. Graham refutes th is stateme n t, saying, " I scoff at those who have co m p la ined that we would be making a killing o n tire sa les. We don't expect to mak e as much in tire sales as we spend on promotion." " Any th ing that ta kes a dime out of th e rid ers' pockets, as ide from legitimate insurance a nd sign -u p fees, is unacceptable," ar~es Code. " The good th in g tha t will happen is that it will ra lly th e tire guys to g e ther - it's genera ted some co hes iveness." Proof of this is offered by a number of industry represen tatives, wh o have ' sta ted th a t the y would like to col laborate on a program th at would ob tain televiso n coverage of motorcycle road raci ng . Like Michelin's Bill Altman, who sa id, " T here' s some positive gonna co m e out o f it. You 'll see. Maybethe aftermarket ca n put together a 'slush fund,' for a lack of better words, that wo uld put us on TV." " We (the m o to rcycl e industry) aren 't big en o ugh for something like this (spec tire races)," says Dunlop's Tony Mills. " We are competitors but at times we hav e to pitch in and work together like Honda and Yamaha did in backing the Laguna Seca U.S.GP ."

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