Buffalo, NY: Dunlop is expanding operations at the Proving Grounds in Huntsville, Alabama; a dedicated tire testing facility. In addition to significant facility and track upgrades, Dunlop has hired Taylor Knapp to join its motorcycle tire testing team.

Knapp started flat track and motocross racing at age five, winning many amateur national motocross championships. He started road racing at age 13, and turned pro at age 16. He has raced in the British Superbike series, and has been a factory Superbike rider with KTM and Buell. Knapp had his best MotoAmerica season to date in 2015, scoring 13 podium finishes in the Superstock 1000 class, including a victory at Virginia International Raceway, and finishing runner-up in the championship.

“We’re thrilled to expand our capabilities at the proving grounds with the changes we have made there, and the addition of Taylor as a motorcycle tire test rider,” said Mike Buckley, Dunlop Motorcycle’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Our proving grounds is the only one of its kind in the U.S., and it plays a critical role in the tires we develop and manufacture in the U.S. These changes will help us do an even better job of delivering class-leading premium tires to our customers.”

Dunlop’s proving grounds, together with the high-tech manufacturing plant in Buffalo, New York—the only motorcycle tire plant in North America—gives Dunlop the capacity and flexibility to design, engineer, and manufacture new cutting-edge tire technologies in America for American riders.