Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

With the FIM-sanctioned World Superbike Championship going to spec tires for the 2004-2005 seasons, Pirelli will be looking toward the AMA and British Superbike series for tire development.

That’s the word from Eddie Roberts, Pirelli International Racing Manager, who is attending the WERA Grand National Finals at Road Atlanta.

“With the World Superbike Championship being mono-tire, it restricts us in development,” said Roberts Thursday. “We’ll be looking at the USA and UK Championships for our development program. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, because these are the two strongest Championships in the world, outside of the World [Superbike] Championships.”

Roberts said he did not know what American teams and riders Pirelli would be working with in 2004. “We’re not necessarily looking for the number one team,” said Roberts. “We’d rather work with a team that can grow with Pirelli, like [two-time World Supersport Champions] Ten Kate.

“The information we get from that [development] will immediately translate to the standard product. For instance, if we find an advantage with a compound or carcass construction, we will make 100 of that construction, send them to the various continents and ask our distributors, ‘please have your riders try these tires.’ As soon as we have positive results, we put it into production immediately. Maybe only one percent of riders will be able to take advantage of the improvement, but it will be there.

“And I firmly believe Pirellis are the best tires you can go buy. [Ten Kate World Supersport riders] Karl Muggeridge and Chris Vermeulen qualified one-two on standard product anyone can buy at Magny-Cours. That’s very satisfying for me.”

Roberts said he is in America for meetings within the company, to bring Pirelli tire vendors up to speed on the 2004 product line, to get feedback from American racers who use Pirellis and to generally check out the American club racing scene.