Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128241
It's goo d th at yo u raised th is subj ect, because it's absolutely not the case , and here's why thi s wi ll no t hap pen , T og eth er with Pirell i, we wi ll nom ina te official development teams so th at at the Pirelli test days we will have Duc atis, Petronas, Suzukis and Hon da s from t he Superbike class all o n the track , and from the Supersport class bikes from all four Japanese manufacturers and Duc ati - T rium ph , too, if it decides to come to Wo rld Supersport next year, but I think that is more likely in 2005. T hese tea ms will work together in developing the tires that will be available to everybody - but the tires will have different spe cifications , so that one will work better on a twin, another will be best on a trip le, and so on. During the year, Pirelli will continue to devel o p up to at least 15 different spe cifications of tires, pl us qu al ifier s, p lus intermedia te , plus rai n tires and some of these will be best on a fou r, ot hers on a twi n. Moreov er , let' s no t forget tha t the whole pro c ess of allocat io n of th e tires w ill be und er the co ntro l of th e FIM , wh o already have th e pr ocedu re in p lace to do thi s, tha nks to th e syst em we laun ch ed last year of lim iting th e number of tires th at ca n be used. So, m ost importantly , if a tire works best on a twin , that ver y sam e tire is av ailable to all tw in -c ylinder teams and ride rs - to A prilia, if and when it comes bac k in, t o Mond i al if it dec id e s to com pe te in SBK wi t h Honda engi nes, to KTM wh en it does ente r Superbike ra cing as it has anno unced it will do , and o f co urse also to Ducati. But let's not for get , thi s same tire will be av ail abl e und er FIM co ntrol to a p rivat eer like Pedercini as we ll as to th e official Du c at i team - and t hat is a si t uation t ha t h a s n e ver happ en e d before in Wo rld Superbik e! Why did you make Supersport a one-make tire class , though? Surely t here was a healthy and even competition among tire manufacturers , with attractive sp inoff benefits fo r the s t ree t bi k e customer , and wi t h the two manufacturers already in place sharing more or les s equa lly the task of supplying the grid, plus Michelin about to come back in and Bridgestone understood to be planning to do so , too . If it wasn 't broke, wh y fi x it? When you invite a company to make the high level of commitment that we are expecting from Pirelli in World Superbike for the next two years, clearly the choice must be a complete one - and that meant we had to include the Supersport class in the package , too . It was not pr esentable to have a con trol ti re situation in Superbike but an open tire ru le in World Supers po rt. What is FGSport 's long-term vision for t he future of World Su perbike and World Supersport , firstly specifically as regards tires? Ou r objecti ve is not to hav e a sing le tire m anu fa cturer forev er - o ur aim , and the FIM ' s, is to ha v e a s m an y ti re co mpa n ies pr e se n t in W o rld Supe rb ike and World Supe rspo rt as we po ssible ca n, but under c lear co nd itio ns whic h will see th ose four o r ev en five tire manufacturers present in the padd o c k sh ar ing th e resp on sibility of eq u ip p in g th e bi k es o n t he grid eq ually amon g th em , ma k ing a c le ar pol ic y o f suppl yin g th e sam e tires to ev ery team that wants th em , and espe cially m aking a lon g term commi tment to supporti ng t he t w o c h am pionships. You can't have a situa tio n w here one com- c ue pan y supplying a significant numbe r of team s st ates six m on th s before the beg inn in g of th e new sea son tha t it's not t aking part in the series an y m or e. Oth erwise , we ' re bett er off maint ai ni ng th e co ntro l ti re rul e - but we hope th is won't be necessa ry fo r t oo lo ng in the future . And how about in mo re genera l terms wh ere 's World Superbike going in the next five year s? We believe we are entering a new era. After 16 years World Su pe rb ik e is finally cha ngi ng its technical rules, at a time when all lead ing motorcycle manufacturers in the world are launching new 1000cc high -perfo rmance streetbikes - Ducati an d Suzuk i did so in this model year; Hon da, Kawasaki, MV Agusta, Yam aha and Aprilia have done so for next yea r; Mo ndi al m ad e an Evo ve rsion of its existing model, and KTM and most pro ba bly others will come with new su ch bik es in the near future. Th is gives us eig ht o r nin e m ach in es that need to be prom oted and ca n be raced in World Superbi ke, and th is encourages us to beli eve tha t the level of pa rt icipati on in th e futu re w ill be ex tre mely good. Moreover, since we hav e gene rated a set of rul es and an environm ent , with t he sin gl e t i re su p p lie r, wh ich w ill m aintain affo rda ble costs as we ll as prov iding an eve n leve l of co m petit io n for eve ry bo dy, we are c onfident we have pr o vid ed the basis fo r a new era o f cl o se, thrill in g ra cing , featuri ng exci ti ng ma ch inery based o n the str eetbikes spectato rs rode to th e c ir cuit to watch the ra ces, or tha t TV viewers have in th e g ara ge the o th er sid e o f th e wall from where th ey 'r e wa t c hi ng the set. Superbike i s back o n the upsw ing - pl ease believe it! eN I e n e vv S • NOVEMBER 1 9, 2003 17