AFT DAYTONA DUNLOP TIRE TEST
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Feature
wherever it may be," he said.
"James Rispoli and my dad are
both great mentors to me.
"I definitely think there are
some expectations, but I'm just
going to do my thing and see
where that takes us. We're going
to come out swinging in 2021."
While impossible to ignore, lap
time comparisons between riders
weren't supposed to be the point
of the two-day affair. And returning
to the stated primary objective,
Dunlop was more than pleased
with how the test played out.
"We've come out of this test
with a clear winner," said Mi-
chael Jackson, Senior Manager
of Motorcycle Development &
Road Race. "We've got all our
tires tested with the vast major-
ity of riders. We've had a lot of
feedback, so it's been every-
thing we hoped it would be.
"The goal of the test was to
find a more durable version of
the R5 but not as hard as the
R9, which was the only other
compound they had last year.
We focused on questioning
each rider on how the new spec
compared to the R5.
"We asked them to do 8-10
laps, and then we picked the
best candidates and hammered
out close to race distance on
those tires. We asked them if
the tire improved or got worse
throughout that run. 'Did the
track change?' 'What's the posi-
tive and negative of each tire?'
"We've got all the information.
I'm just in the process of doing
a basic report. There's nothing
else we need to do in terms of
tire testing. The focus now shifts
to production."
Reigning Grand National
Champion Briar Bauman, for
one, took his role as tire tester
seriously.
(Left) Despite his expectation that
he'll be back competing for a
Production Twins title with G&G Racing
again in 2021, Cory Texter rode the
Wally Brown Racing/American Suzuki
RM-Z450 at Volusia. (Bottom) JD
Beach ended up second-fastest on
the Estenson Racing Yamaha.
