Dunlop tire test
New or old, only
time will tell
40
year," Allen says. "We would change
for the 200 on what we learned in the
Twin 50s, the drop-off rate. We're going
to have to rethink how we do things.
Hopefully, the AMA will give us longer
practice sessions."
Dunlop's chief designer Nigel Nock
believes that you need a one-hour practice session, 10 to 15 laps to get a read on
endurance. "In 20 minutes you're lucky
to get tw o tires properly com pare d," he
says.
Anothe r twist was that the Fast by
Ferracci Ducati team had been forced by
the Cagiva facto ry to switch to Michelin.
Because the Cagiva factory is so heavily
in debt to the French tire company, they
wanted Ferracci to campaign Michelins
in America, something Ferracci was
reluctant to do. Though he would like to
ha ve stayed with Dunlop, it would have
meant a budget shortfall of $150,000.
" It was not Eraldo's choice to
change," Allen says. "We discussed it at
length. He told me point-blank th ere
was no rea son to change. He's won tw o
AMA and two World Superbike Championships with us."
The Castrol Honda Superbike team
of Doug Polen and Aaron Slight will
also be us ing Michelina, deprivin g Dunlop of Polen ' s renowned testing skills .
Russell, wh o readily ad mits he doesn't
have the knack for testing that Polen
has, isn' t ready to conced e any thi ng to
the HRC or Du cati teams.
"Michelins are good; there's no questio n that they wo rk," Ru s s ell s a id ,
adding, "I'd be kind of feeling funn y if I
was go ing down the re to race on them
becat'lse th ey d on't p repare for it like
Dunlop does."
Michelin has a two-d ay test sched uled for later in December with Pol en
and Fast by Ferracci's Mike Smith, and
possibly others. No w they know what to
shoo t for.
D
