From a press release issued by Dunlop:

Yates wins AMA 600 Supersport title, marks Dunlop’s 16th championship in a
row.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates wrapped up the 2002 Pro Honda Oils U.S. Supersport Championship at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on July 28, 2002 by taking his fifth series win of the year. It marks the second individual AMA road racing championship for Yates, a 28-year-old factory Suzuki rider from Milledgeville, Ga.

Yates’ championship also extends an amazing racing record for Dunlop Motorcycle Tires. With Aaron’s 2002 championship aboard Dunlop’s dominant D208 GP tire, Dunlop riders have now won every single AMA 600 Supersport Championship since the series inception, 16 titles in a row.

Yates began the year by winning the prestigious Daytona round for the first time in his career. It was considered a big breakthrough for Yates to win that race.

Yates backed up his Daytona victory with West Coast wins at California Speedway and Sears Point Raceway to open up a big lead in the series. He then went on to win at Road America and Mid-Ohio and posted podium finishes at Road Atlanta, Brainerd and Laguna Seca.

With his 12-career victories, all of them on Dunlop tires, Yates is third on the all-time AMA Supersport wins list. Yates’ championship also marks the third AMA Supersport championship for Suzuki, with Yates following in the footsteps on Doug Polen (1988) and Steve Crevier (1998), the other AMA Supersport champions who rode for Suzuki.

With 16 straight AMA 600 Supersport championships, Dunlop riders have now won more than 250 races in the 600 Supersport class. That’s more than 90-percent of all the races since the series began.