Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Special Michelin tires shipped in from France aided former Superbike World Champion Doug Polen at Willow Springs during the Toyota 200 weekend.

Polen, 43, who has been running races in Japan with sponsorship from Dunlop, called Michelin after his request for support (i.e., free tires) at Willow was turned down by Dunlop’s U.S. operation. Michelin responded by sending Polen tires not made available to other riders.

The results showed in Friday’s final Toyota 200 qualifying session, when Polen was third-fastest on his Moto-Liberty Honda CBR954RR at 1:21.293 running a Michelin 4387J S4 rear tire and an 1862C front tire on a race set-up.

The only other Michelin riders in the field, running S2 tires, languished back in 14th and 15th in the same session, in the mid-1:24s on race set-ups.

Polen had the same model tires on his bike for the start of the race on Sunday, but was black-flagged early-on when his bike sprung an oil leak and started smoking.

Dunlop swept the first eight positions in the Toyota 200, with the first Michelin rider finishing 11th.