P22
IN
THE
WIND
NATIONAL MX SET FOR GLEN HELEN RETURN
G
len Helen Raceway in San
Bernardino, California, will
host a round of the Lucas Oil
AMA Pro Motocross Championship Series in 2014. We spoke
with a representative of the
raceway who confirmed that the
National Series will return to the
facility on March 24.
Glen Helen has not hosted
a round of the outdoor Nationals since 2009. Since then, the
Southern California Nationals
have been held twice at Pala
Raceway and twice at Lake Elsinore.
Glen Helen also confirmed
that it has a multi-year agreement with the series promoters
MX Sports.
National
Motocross will
return to Glen
Helen Raceway
in 2014.
TIRE WOES ON THE ISLAND
R
esurfaced, smooth, grippy
and yielding lap records all
round, the new Phillip Island surface pleased all the riders. But
it didn't please their tires. The
result was a shame-faced episode for both control tire companies Bridgestone and Dunlop
at the Australian Grand Prix,
and a flurry of on-the-hoof rule
changes that radically altered
the race-day program and in the
end potentially the outcome of
the World Championship.
Dunlop had made an especially hard new dual-compound
tire for this race, Bridgestone
brought an extra hard option.
Both failed conspicuously to
cope with unseasonably warm
conditions, and the extra stress
of higher corner speeds, as lap
records were smashed in all
classes.
Both companies informed
Race Direction on Saturday that
their best tires were not good
enough. They could not guarantee the riders' safety over (in
Bridgestone's case) half distance. After further overheating
problems in morning warm-up,
the Japanese company was
forced into further embarrass-
ment, revising their assessment
of tire safety from 14 laps down
to just 10.
After furious debate rejecting
the option of a World Superbike
style two races, MotoGP was decreed to be a compulsory flagto-flag race no matter what the
conditions. The length was cut
from the planned 27 laps to 22,
the hardest tire option was made
obligatory (so too even the pressures) in spite of protests from
riders, and nobody would be allowed to do a stint longer than 14
laps.
The new race rules were
