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/128306
Dec e mbe r 4 ·10, 2 0 03 AMA SUPERBIKE ~ Daytona Tire t was a tumul tuous six days at Daytona International Speedway with the annual December t ires tests by Miche lin and Dunlop pro ducing more questio ns than answers . AMA Superbikes, ge t ti ng faster and mo re powerf ul at an astonishing rate , are leaving both major tire co mpanies in t he United States in a mad ru s h to me e t the dema nds of t he high hor sepower. T he new Honda CBRIOOORR proved incredibly fast ou t of the crat e . Form er World Supe rbike ace Ben Bostro m set the fastest time of the tests with a near-recor d lap time of I:47.8 on t he new CBR. The bike was caught at an incredible 192 mph on Dayto na Intern ational Speedway's tri-oval, making the Suzuki GSX-RI000 that Mat Mladin rode to a fourt h AMASuperbike title last year look ane mic by comparison. Eric Bostrom found the Ducati 999 and Michelin combination to his liking, and he near ly matc hed his qua lifying speed of last year - an I impressive feat considering it was his first time on a Ducat i and current M ichelin racing rubber. Making his tes t even mor e impres sive was the fact that it was t he younger Bostrom's first time at speed for an extended period on a Superbi ke after he suffered serious season-en ding shoulder injuries in the U.S. World Superbike round at Laguna Seca last July. The new CBRl OOORR was fast at Daytona, but there are plenty of tire issues to be resolved The ove rriding story of the test was the tire failure and result ing 170-plus mph crash of Y amaha's Jason DiSalvo on a factory RI. DiSalvo suffer ed only slig injuries in the terrifying incident, but it ht was enough to force Dunlop to pullthe plug on any further testing of the big bikes. The re peated Dunlop tire failures (Michelin chunked a tire as we ll) could put the classic American race in jeop ardy. Additional tests with all tire makers involved in AMAroad racing have been scheduled for late January, and brave w ill be the riders who work up the nerve to get back on the 190-mph banking under these circumstances. D UNLOP OUALIFYING RUBBER TO RETURN? With Michelin ste pping up its involvement for t he AMA Super bike Series, it begged the question: Would this for ce Dunlop to return to using soft qualifying t ires after a yea r away from them? Michelin's Jim Rhodes plainly stated that Michelin could provide Eric Bostro m with what he termed "softer racing tires" for Dayton a. Beyond that he said they've yet to decide. "We' ll have to asse ss that ," Rhode s said. "O bviously, it's not a prob lem for us to turn a quick lap. You can see in World Superbi ke and GP that (Top) Ben Bostrom didn't waste any time getting used to his new Honda CBR1OOORR during the Dunlop portion of the Daytona tire test. (Left) Daytona has a lways been hard on tires and always will be. Dunlop's Jim Allen, Miguel Duhamel and AI Ludington ponder the situation. S6 JANUARY 14, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS 40th Anniversary Michelin can provide a tire that can turn in a quick lap if we need to - it's not a problem for us." Dunlop tire technician Jim Allen said that unless an agreement co uld be wo rked out, it wou ld see m almost inevitable that the qualifiers wo uld re turn. "It's not hard to figure o ut with points on the line for winning the pole that Dunlop wo uld do what we could to insure o ur riders had the oppo rtunity to earn those points ," Allen said. "Other com panies may not call them qualifying tires , but the fact is, if a tire is so soft that you can't use it during t he race , then in reality it's a qualifying tire . We'd rather not have to supply those tires , and I'm sure the tea ms wo uld prefer not to have to wo rk on different set ups for qualifying and the race." SUZUKI BACK TO SQUARE ONE Suzuki's GSXR I000 was the dominant motorcycle in AMA Supe rbike racing last year. The Y imura osh Suzuki team too k full advantage of th e new IOOOcc, four-cylinder rule and gave Mladin a championship-wi nning machine . However, at the Dunlop tire tests at Dayto na, it was readily apparent that Suzuki had fallen behind. The updated AMA Superbike rules, which, among other things call for stock fuel injectors, throttle bodies and air boxes, have slowed down the big Gixxer to the point that Yamaha RI Superstock machines were lapping at similar times, and Hond a's new CBRIOOORR was simply leaving the Suzuki in its wake . Wh en Mladin was aske d how his 2004 Superbike felt at t he te sts, his one-word response was "slow." The new rules have slowed t he