Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Ducati Austin To Dunlop 'The decision by Ducati Co rse to switch I the works Marlboro Ducati Mo toGP team from Michelin to Bridgest one fo r 2005 was crucial in the Ducatl Austin team mov- ing from Michelin to Dunlop for the next two years, according to several sources. "If we had co ntinued with Michelins in MotoG P, we wou ld've con tinued in AMA Superbi ke ," Ducati Corse spo kesman Julian Thom as said. Dunlop's U.S. road race manager Jim Allen agreed. "The key to the whole thing was Ducati going to Bridgestone in MotoGp," Allen said. Michelin's U.S. roa d race manager Jim Rhodes echoed those com ments. "It was a decision made co rpo rately by Michelin base d on w hat happen ed in MotoGP," Rhodes said. Tho mas said they were "actually qu ite keen on continuing to deal w ith M ichelin, should they have expressed interest." "It's a co rporate decision and I certainly back the de cision," Rhodes said. Ducati Corse went with Bridgestone in MotoGP because of their development deal. Bridgestone also supplies Suzuki's and Kawasaki's MotoGP teams. Factoring into Michelin's decision is the potential transfer of technology, according to Allen. "Miche lin is a fairly closed company, " he said. "Wh at they 've ultimately decided is that it's not in the ir best interest. They can't actively support it and concentrate on what they need to concentrate on . At the same time , we had to decide whether it was the right thing for us to do ." Dunlop contacted Honda and Suzuki, who'd stuck with them through a trouble- Allen said the co mpany wo uld co ntinue to fly in support pe rson nel from the comp any's headq uart ers in Birmingham , England, fo r every race and that all three AHA Superbike teams wo uld have ded icated techn icians. Eric Bostrom and Neil Hodgson will now be on the same tires as the rest of the factory Superbike teams wh en they arrive in Dayton a in early January for th e winte r tire tests. Bostrom struggled throu gh his worst Superbike seaso n eve r in 2004. The culprit was a vagueness in the front end that was never sorted out. Bostrom never blamed the tires. "T he fro nt end, I'm sure that I struggled with the se tu p, and I th ink a lot of the ride rs have struggled w ith th e setup that are com peting o n the same bike," Bost rom said. "It's inte re sting because I had a good feel for the Michelin front tire . But, all the same , riding Dunlops pretty much my entire caree r, after a year of riding Michelins, I'm sure I still have a be tter fee l for the Dunlop front tire because you get kind of molded into it." Part of the problem was that the entire burden of testing tires fell on Bostro m, who also had to sort out a new motorcycle. "The tough est part for me with Michelinis that we'd have so many options and I was pretty much totally in charge of sorting everything out , and that made it really difficult," he said. ''And there were times we had front tires that really worked well. A couple of other times I got kind of bit and crashed, and I think it was just one of those deals where I probably didn't have the right feel with the front end and so I wanted to find out where I was at with the front tire and ended up crash ing the bike because of it. Part of it all stems to point where the setup and feel for the front should be better and can better. some winter of conspicuous tire failures at "If I ever needed a teammate it was last Daytona. "We told those teams before it ever went public what we we re contemplating and what we were going to do just out of respect to those guys," Allen said. "Their attitude is 'That's fine. The support you gave us last year was tremendous, and if that level of support continues then we're happy.''' year on the Michelins, because we had a lot of stuff to try to get through and never enough time to do it," Bostrom said. "Thi s year, it's just going to be a lot easier from that standpoint. We 'll be able to work a little more on the setup, which is a good thing, but also a limitingthing because you only have so many tires to choose from and I'm sure An End to the Riverside County Mess? A national trail recreation group joined with local members of the off-road community, government officials and landholders in Riverside County, California, to discuss solutions to unnecessarily loud off-highway vehicles (OHVs) being operated on private property, according to the Blue Ribbon Coalition . The BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC) testified before the Riverside County Planning Commission on a proposed ordinance that would set standards for OHV usage within the unincorporated area of the county. For many months, the noise from some OHVs operating on private property has irritated a growing number of adjacent landowners who have mounted a political 14 campaign to deal with the issue. Faced with the possibility of a hastily written anti-OHV ordinance that could have functionally banned trail riding on private property, riders became proactive and have been working with the BRC and other interests to find an answer. In early November, the FMF/BRC Sound Testing Program for OHVs , with logistical support from the Off-Road Business Association, performed 20-inch J-1287 OHV sound tests on a variety of dirt bikes and muffler systems on private property, according to BlueRibbon. The sound crew also measured dec ibel levels at the property line. Information from that event w as sub- mitted to county staff. JANUARY 5,2005 • CYCLE NEWS they're going to work we ll. Dunlo p' s be en here for so long and they know the tracks so we ll, and the tire s have always worked we ll here. It'll be a lot easie r, it'll be a lot less work , and being able to dial the set up in... we' ll have more time to w ork on setup bec ause the tires wo n't be as com plicated. It's always goo d for a race r to say, 'Hey, I'm o n a level playing field.' That's why yo u always get so much tension betwe en teamm ates." Wh en contacted at his ho me on the Isle of Man, Hodgson said he was relieved to hear the news of the Dunlop switch . "Because of the British co nnection, I have a really good wo rking relationship with them [Dunlo p]," Hodgson said . "I'm sort of relieve d really becau se I was always a bit worried about the Michelin thing in America. Yes, they could also be an advantage , but they could also be an awful disadvantage. I was really, really pleased when I found out ." Hodgson will be visiting Dunlop 's headquarters in Birmingham , England, prior to the Ch ristmas . ''I'm re ally good friends with them anyway," Hodgson said, "My plan was to go see them and see what's changed anyway because I know they have done a lot of work since I was using them ." Hodgson will be testing Dunlops on the Ducat i 999 F05 at the Jerez Circuit in Spain, December 16-17, alongside the Pirelli-shod World Superbike team. Ducati's MotoGP test team is also testing in Spain, but without factory riders Loris Caplrossi and Carlos Checa since they're banned by Dorna from testing from December I to January 20, The switch ends what was a mostly unsatisfactory relationship between Michelin and Ducati Austin, despite Michelin's best efforts , Michelin, which had never seriously supported the AMA Superbike series , made its '" was greatly impressed by the change in tone between the affected parties," said Don Amador, Western representative for the BlueRibbon Coalition. "It appears that a lot of the finger pointing has stopped and folks are genUinely interested in finding a balanced solution, I think credit should be given to the Planning Commission for taking a step back and slowing the ordinance process down to allow local riders and property owners to present a quality product . The Commission also voiced support for finding new OHV parks. "Representatives from Malcolm Smith Motorsports and local motocross tracks attended the meeting to support the con cept of riding quieter bikes that won't unreasonably annoy adjacent land owners, It biggest commit ment ever, wi th former World Superbike boss Jean Her risse traveling from France to every test and race to lead the tire team. Being the on ly rider on Michelins, which have wo n all but a few premier-class Grands Prix over the past dozen years, should have given Bostrom an edge. It looked that way early on . The season began with Bostrom taking the pole at Daytona with the fastest ever lap of the 3.56-mile configuration and thre atening to win, only to be stopped by a rock in the radiator soon after a front tire problem. Bostrom was also a factor in the next two races at CaliforniaSpeedway, but things went downhill from there, the lone bright spot a win at Pikes Peak Internat ional Raceway. Bostrom is out to prove that last year was a fluke. Having Hodgson as a teammate is added motivation. ''And my shoulder's really doing well," Bostrom said. "It's not 100 percent, but I don't th ink afte r an injury like that it's going to be I00 percent." Where does the switch leave Michelin in the United States? "We don 't know exactly yet where we're at. I wouldn't saywe're not involved," Rhodes said, though it's unlikely Michelin will have a front-line Superbike team. Rhodes said that, despite the Ducati Austin switch , Michelin would be at the January Daytona tire test. "It's just a matter of who's going to be there," he said. Henny Ray Abrams may be Important for riders in Riverside to form a countywide OHV association comprised of motocrossers, off-road business leaders and trail-users to develop a longterm strategy that will address excessively loud OHVs , the need for new riding areas or parks, illegaltrespassing and other issues. '" also appreciated the testimony of Jack McGrath, father of motocross star Jeremy McGrath, when he talked about finding common ground so that family oriented riding on private property can be preserved for future generations. I look forward to working with the Commission'sadvisory committee assigned to this issue over the next cou- ple of months so that riding opportunities can be pro tected while resp ect ing the property rights of ou r neighbors."

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