Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Representatives from Dunlop held a series of meetings with teams prior to the start of the tire test at Daytona International Speedway to explain the catastrophic tire failure suffered by racer Ben Spies during testing at the Speedway in October and to set the riders’ minds at ease.

Spies fell from his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike October 13 during tire testing at Daytona when his rear Dunlop exploded as he crossed the start/finish line at a radar-measured 186 mph.

The 19-year-old Texan suffered serious skin abrasions in his long slide on the pavement, has undergone skin graft operations to repair the damage and has been out of action and unable to train since the incident.

“They were just trying to put our mind at ease and explain (Spies’ tire failure) to us,” American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel said Tuesday after the end of on-track activities at Daytona. “They had little graphs and charts and stuff. It shows a lot of the company as big as Dunlop taking time to sit everybody down and set their mind at ease.”

Duhamel’s teammate Ben Bostrom was also present at the meeting between Dunlop officials and Honda team members Sunday, December 7 and was encouraged by what the Dunlop men told him.

“The good thing is they found it, they found out what went wrong (with Spies’ tire),” Bostrom told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “They said they tripled or quadrupled the strength of the part they had the problem with. It was a big confidence builder for sure.”

Speaking early Tuesday morning at Daytona, Dunlop Senior Road Race Manager Jim Allen acknowledged the problem encountered with Spies’ tire and said Dunlop had found the answer. “Obviously with the problem we had with Ben Spies in October there’s been a whole lot of emphasis on finding out exactly what went wrong with that tire. We did finally get the answer to that, and once that was done, we were able to start producing tires for this test,” Allen told Roadracingworld.com.

However, Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo crashed late Tuesday afternoon at Daytona when the rear tire on his 2004 Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock racer failed coming out of NASCAR Turn Four.

“Hopefully what happened to (Jason) DiSalvo was something else,” said Duhamel. “They (Dunlop) care a lot. They’ve been in racing forever. They’ve supported the American racing, my racing, forever. It’s just bad. Like I said, we’ll just wait and see what comes out, but they are definitely trying hard.”

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Roger Lee Hayden turned the fastest lap time among 600cc riders Wednesday, the final day of Dunlop tire testing at Daytona International Speedway.

In warm but windy conditions that slowed all riders’ times, Hayden turned a 1:53.040 on his new Kawasaki ZX-6RR.

According to Kawasaki team members, the extensive changes in the 2004-model Kawasaki ZX-6RR engine have already resulted in a five percent horsepower gain over the team’s 2003 racebikes, and the 2004 racebike is largely undeveloped.

Adding more credibility to the newest Kawasaki, Tommy Hayden was second-fastest on his ZX-6RR Wednesday with a 1:53.167, faster that all three of the factory Yamahas YZF-R6s.

Unable to do further testing on his ZX-10R Superstock bike, Attack Kawasaki’s Josh Hayes took teammate Tony Meiring’s ZX-6RR out for a stint this morning, found the bike to his liking and said he missed racing 600cc machines.

Hayes will race Superstock and Superbike on Attack Kawasaki ZX-10Rs, according to team owner Richard Staboli.

American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel continued testing his CBR600RR Formula Xtreme bike Wednesday, but Erion Honda has loaded its FX racer into its truck and is preparing to leave the Speedway at the end of the day.

Teams broke for lunch at approximately 12:20 p.m. local time. Testing will resume later in the afternoon.

Wednesday morning lap times (as provided by AMA Pro Racing Timing & Scoring):

1. Roger Lee Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-6RR Supersport, 1:53.040
2. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-6RR Supersport, 1:53.167
3. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R6 Supersport, 1:53.168
4. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R6 Supersport, 1:53.194
5. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R6 Supersport, 1:53.500
6. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR600RR Formula Xtreme, 1:54.208
7. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R600 Supersport, 1:54.709
8. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6RR Supersport, 1:55.448

From a press release issued by Alice Aprilia Racing:

TEST VALENCIA/1st day

First day of testing for the Aprilia Racing Team in Valencia. Because of the rain fallen during the night, the test session could start only in the early afternoon when the track got dried and the temperature raised a little bit.

For Shane Byrne it was the first time to ride on this track so, much of the work done was firstly focused on learning the new track and secondly it was a good occasion for riding with the other MotoGP riders.

Today in fact there were in total fourteen riders (official and test riders) on track, In addition to the Aprilia Racing Team there were also Marlboro Ducati Team, the second Ducati team run by D’Antin, Team Honda Pons, Honda Gresini, Pramac Honda and Proton.

“Shakey” Shane Byrne completed with satisfaction almost sixty laps, a good result considering that there was not enough time to test. In fact, in total he rode no more than two hours and a half. He focused on learning the new track and taking the point of references. Lap by lap he improved his lap time and the riding became smoother and smoother; 1:37.60 was his best lap time .

Meanwhile the experienced test rider Marcellino Lucchi ran through development parts of the new bike.

The test is due to continue tomorrow and conclude on Friday.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Former racer turned tuner Rob Tuluie has been named head of R&D for the Renault Formula One car racing team.

Tuluie, 39, will be based at the team headquarters in Enstone, England, about 20 miles north of Oxford.

His duties will include lab testing, crash testing and stiffness testing, and he will also be involved in pure research, investigating new technology.

Tuluie will report for duty February 2.

Prior to accepting the job with the F1 team, Tuluie worked as a Systems Engineer in the Advanced Systems Division and as a Test Consulting Engineer in Motorsports, both positions with MTS Systems Corporation of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Tuluie is best known in motorcycling circles for his home-built Tul-Aris road racer and for his Yamaha YZ450F SuperMoto racebike ridden by Doug Henry.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Graves Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo crashed at 172 mph Tuesday during tire testing at Daytona International Speedway when the Dunlop rear tire failed on his Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock racebike.

Looking surprisingly well, DiSalvo returned to the Speedway Wednesday and spoke with Roadracingworld.com about his get-off.

“The tires were working great through the infield and up until that point, actually,” said DiSalvo. “They were spinning like normal. You’re like sideways on the banking the whole way around. For me, I can’t go wide open on the banking until I’m a quarter of the way around.

“I had it pinned. I started to drop down and apexed (NASCAR Turn) four. Just as I was letting it drift back out, I was in there tucked and the next thing I knew I was sideways and it highsided me.

“I kind of remember it chattered like four times, I started to roll off the gas and I highsided – all within the course of a second. It was totally nuts. And it was completely unexpected, too. It gave no warning signs at all, no vibrations, nothing like that.

“I was smoking it up pretty good, but I talked to the tire technicians from Dunlop. They said that doesn’t hurt the tire at all. It just creates surface heat. It doesn’t really create the kind of heat that’s bad, the core heat. They said, ‘You can spin that thing all you want. You’re not hurting it.’

“We were doing race distance. I was on my 11th lap. Up until then I was 1:49s and 1:50s the whole time. I only did one 1:51.1, and that’s because I ran way wide in turn one. But I was solid 1:49-1:50 the whole time, which I think is a pretty good 200 pace. I was pretty stoked.”

Although he suffered a mild concussion and temporary memory loss immediately after the incident Tuesday, DiSalvo remembered every detail of his nearly 400-foot slide down the straightaway.

“I went off and hit my back first,’ said DiSalvo. “That’s where all the bruising and friction burns are, on my back. Then I was sliding on my back and my side mainly. I tried to move around because everything was getting real hot. I used my hands because I was trying to steer myself away from the outside wall. Then I remember going through on my elbows real quick. As soon as it went through on my elbows, I dug my heel in and flipped myself up so I could start rolling. I rolled and rolled and rolled. That was hurting pretty bad, so I laid back down and started to slide again. I actually got positioned right on my back protector, so I could keep everything (arms and legs) up. Then my back protector started to get hot, too, so I dug my heel in again and started to roll some more. And that’s when I finally stopped. They say it was more than a football field that I slid.”

DiSalvo suffered extensive friction burns and bruising over much of his back but only a few small abrasions on his hands and elbows where his gloves and leathers burned through.

“Even though I feel pretty stiff and sore today, they asked me if I wanted to ride today and I actually had to think about it. It’s only a test, so why go out there and put my body through more. If it was race day, there’s no doubt I would ride. I think I could do pretty good, too,” boasted the 19-year-old New Yorker.

In fact, DiSalvo said the whole incident did little to shake his confidence in Dunlop’s tires. “If Dunlop says they’ve got a tire that will last for the race then that’s cool with me,” DiSalvo told Roadracingworld.com. “They said that this tire would last race-distance, but there’s so many variables. Maybe there was debris on the track. Maybe it was a one-off bad tire. Nobody knows. If they said they could give me a tire that would do race distance then I would ride on it for sure.”

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

AMA and Daytona International Speedway officials have contacted or plan to contact representatives from Michelin and Pirelli, to ask them to test tires at the Florida track on January 25-26, 2004. Dunlop will also attend the test.

The AMA and Daytona officials are trying to determine if the recent serious tire woes experienced by Dunlop riders at the Speedway are symptomatic of a problem with 1000cc Superbikes and Superstock machines or if they are related to some problem with Dunlop’s design, construction or quality control.

An exploding 16.5-inch Dunlop slick on a Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike sent Ben Spies sliding at 186 mph at Daytona in October, and an exploding 17-inch Dunlop slick on a Graves Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock bike threw Jason DiSalvo at 172 mph yesterday.

No tires run on Superbike and Superstock racebikes exploded during a Michelin tire test at Daytona December 4-6. During that test, 16.5-inch Superbike slicks were tested on Ducati Austin 999 Superbikes and on Valvoline EMGO Suzuki GSX-R1000s in Superstock trim. Valvoline EMGO Suzuki also tested 17-inch treaded tires and slicks on the GSX-R1000s, at Michelin’s request. The Valvoline EMGO Suzuki GSX-R1000s reached 182.5 mph across the tri-oval during the test, while the Ducati Austin 999 reached 184 mph, measured with a radar gun.

Pirelli Racing Manager Jeff Johnston, reached via cell phone while he was visiting West Coast Pirelli racing tire distributors Wednesday, said that he has not heard anything from Daytona or AMA officials about the proposed emergency tire test at the Florida Superspeedway.

“We would love to come down and test on those days and will be able to give a firm commitment after I speak to our international racing manager, Eddie Roberts,” said Johnston. “We’ve never had a problem with a steel-belted-radial tire at Daytona, and we’ve been racing there with our steel-belted radials since 1995. While it’s a unique layout and racetrack, for us it’s really about compound development rather than about safety development. Of course, both are related to an extent. At this upcoming test with good teams and good equipment we should be able to turn more-than-competitive times with our current product, and think we would still have enough time to develop some new tires to test, also. Pirelli has consistently proven with excellent results at Daytona that we make products that are up to the task in terms of competitive lap times and in terms of providing riders with a safe product to compete on.”

From a press release issued by Dunlop:

Dunlop increases AMA road racing support in 2004

Daytona Beach, FL, – Dunlop Motorcycle Tires has intensified its tire development program in the AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship, and Dunlop-sponsored tire tests in the coming 2004 season. In the past, Dunlop’s U.S. racing effort has been supported by product and technical assistance from Dunlop United Kingdom (U.K.). This collaboration has resulted in the development of specialty tires for the vast majority of racetracks on today’s AMA calendar. The uniqueness of many American circuits demands this specialized development program. As a result of our commitment to this ongoing program, Dunlop has won more AMA road racing championships than all the other tires manufacturers combined.

For 2004, Dunlop will increase its commitment to AMA road racing with additional support from Dunlop U.K. This support will include technical engineering and service engineering personnel on hand at every AMA Superbike round. “As a result of the regulation changes in the World Superbike Championship, we now have the opportunity to acquire the services of those individuals previously responsible for Dunlop’s World Superbike tire development,” said Dunlop Senior Road Race Manager, Jim Allen.

“The combination of top riders, and world class equipment with unique power and weight characteristics provides an opportunity to further our tire development,” remarked Dunlop U.K.’s Manager ­ Motorcycle Race, David Watkins.

“Dunlop recognizes the AMA Superbike series is now the premier Superbike class in the world,” said Dunlop’s Mike Buckley, Vice President of Motorcycle Tires. “We are excited that the AMA series will represent the cutting-edge of our tire development, and are looking forward to an increased level of development with the talented teams and riders on the AMA circuit. Increasing Dunlop’s technical support in the U.S. to the World Championship level could not have come at a better time. Motorcycle technology is growing rapidly and the riders in the AMA series are pushing the limit.”

In preparation for the upcoming year and for the 63rd Daytona 200, Dunlop is proud to host the 2003 Dunlop Daytona Tire Test, December 8-10. The annual three-day event, which started over a decade ago, is used to develop and test racing tires specifically for use during the series opener at Daytona International Speedway on March 6. On hand for the Daytona Tire Test are Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha factory teams, as well as the Attack Kawasaki, Graves Motorsports Yamaha, and Erion Racing Honda teams.

In the AMA’s 600 Supersport and 750 Superstock classes, Dunlop racers have won a mind-boggling 32 out of a possible 33 championships, including both titles once again in 2003. In the ultra-competitive, high-profile AMA Superbike class, Dunlop has won 18 titles, including the last 14 in a row – an unprecedented streak.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yamaha’s Damon Buckmaster finished the 2003 AMA road racing season while afflicted with an inguinal, or scrotal, hernia that caused him a great deal of pain and left him weakened due to not being able to train.

“It’s just something that happens. There’s a weakness in the abdominal wall and the intestines push through. It’s pretty uncomfortable,” Buckmaster told Roadracingworld.com Monday at Daytona International Speedway during the annual Dunlop tire test. “Males are more prone to it because we tend to lift heavier things and that all contributes to it, but if you’re gonna get it, you’re probably gonna get it anyway, you know. It’s genetics.”

Buckmaster said he only told Yamaha Team Manager Tom Halverson and Graves Yamaha team owner Chuck Graves about his situation after it was discovered following the Mid-Ohio round in July. However, the 30-year-old Australian then took his first-ever AMA Supersport race win at the next AMA event, at Virginia International Raceway.

“The biggest area where it affected me was training; I couldn’t train,” said Buckmaster, adding that he hadn’t trained for a month before the VIR race. “That’s what I noticed more on the motorcycle. It wasn’t the fact that it was hurting so much, it was the fact that I lost fitness. It hurt me in that sense.”

Buckmaster had surgery to repair the hernia in early-October and said after one month he was back to full strength and his full training regimen.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

American Honda’s Ben Bostrom turned a 1:48.218 on his new CBR1000RR Superbike Tuesday morning at Daytona International Speedway. Not only was the lap the fastest so far of the three-day Dunlop tire test, the time was faster than Bostrom’s own pole position qualifying time of 1:48.376 for the 2003 Daytona 200 by Arai.

According to Merlyn Plumlee, Bostrom’s Crew Chief, the lap time came while Bostrom was making five-lap test runs on development Dunlop tires and pointed out that the CBR1000RR is “not anywhere near finished.”

Riding the second CBR1000RR that just arrived at the track Monday evening, Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke was second-fastest Tuesday morning with a 1:48.632, within his first 25 laps. Just before breaking for lunch, Zemke turned a 1:47.152, which would have been under the existing lap record, but Zemke admitted to blowing through the chicane on that lap. Zemke’s bike, however, was recorded at 192 mph through the tri-oval on team radar guns.

“Not bad for a crate bike,” joked Zemke. “Just wait ‘til we get it broken in.”

Third-fastest Tuesday morning – and not happy about it – was Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin.

“I haven’t been a second off the pace for a while,” said Mladin. “They’re (Honda) already under the pole position time from last year testing tires, and we’re riding our ass off to be a second off the pace.”

Mladin feels the 2004 AMA Superbike rules requiring stock throttle bodies and airboxes on Superbikes have resulted in his Suzuki GSX-R1000’s reduction in top speed and slower lap times.

“We’re doing 183-184 mph. In August during the tire test we were doing 186-187 mph. They’re (Honda) doing 190 mph,” said Mladin. “I did a 1:48.2 in August when it was pretty hot. Now I’m pushing to do a 1:49.4.

“You ever ride so hard to be one second off the pace?” Mladin asked teammate Aaron Yates.

“It’s a f—king joke,” answered Yates.

Yates is the only rider to crash so far in the test, falling Monday afternoon one lap after recording his fastest time of that day, a 1:49.877. He did a 1:49.776 Tuesday morning to be fourth-fastest overall.

Once again a Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock bike was able to top Yates on the lap time charts Tuesday morning, as happened Monday. Although Yates was concentrating on testing tires Tuesday, Jason DiSalvo’s 1:49.508 was third-fastest overall and impressive nonetheless.

There are only two Superstock-specific tires for riders to evaluate at the test versus 15 different rears and four different front tires for the Superbike riders to get through. According to Dunlop National Road Race Manager Jim Allen, most of the Superstock tires will be constructed with the same compounds and carcasses of the Superbike tires, only in a 17-inch diameter.

Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking, the fastest Supersport rider of the test so far, spent Tuesday morning working on his YZF-R6 Supersport bikes. Mechanic Jefferson Burks said the 2003 AMA Supersport Champion was comparing a 2003-spec bike with a 2004-spec bike and looking for “that little bit we were missing last year at Daytona.”

At noon Tuesday, Hacking’s best time (1:52.376) was 0.4-second faster than Miguel Duhamel’s Daytona Supersport lap record (1:52.785).

Dunlop representatives declared that the track would be open all day, without a lunch break, but most riders and teams stopped for a break around 12:30 p.m. local time.

The weather continues to be near ideal for testing with the ambient temperature topping 70 degrees F shortly after noon, but the Dunlop men are concerned with the forecasted chance of rain on Wednesday.

Tuesday morning lap times (as provided by AMA Pro Racing Timing & Scoring):

1. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR1000RR Superbike, 1:48.218
2. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR1000RR Superbike, 1:48.632
3. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike, 1:49.416
4. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock, 1:49.508
5. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike, 1:49.776
6. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock, 1:50.809
7. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki ZX-10R Superstock, 1:51.316
8. Roger Lee Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-10R Superstock, 1:51.768
9. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-10R Superstock, 1:51.846
10. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R6 Supersport, 1:52.376
11. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R6 Supersport, 1:52.384
12. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock, 1:52.573
13. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6RR Supersport, 1:52.896
14. Miguel Duhamel, Honda CBR600RR Formula Xtreme, 1:53.562
15. Alex Gobert, Honda CBR600RR Formula Xtreme, 1:54.999
16. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R6 Supersport, 1:55.304

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The media guide for the 2004-model Suzuki GSX-R600 boasts Titanium valves, a significantly higher rev-limit and class-leading dry weight, but on the track at Daytona International Speedway during the annual Dunlop tire test, the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R600 Supersport racer is lacking.

At the end of day one of the test, 2002 AMA Supersport Champion Aaron Yates had turned a best time of 1:55.323 on the paint-less Suzuki compared to the fastest Supersport lap time of the day, a 1:52.792 by Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo.

“It feels good, it’s pretty comfortable, it seems to handle pretty well, but it doesn’t pull too good,” Yates told Roadracingworld.com Tuesday. “We’re gonna try something and try it again tomorrow (Wednesday).”

Unlike the 2004 Honda CBR1000RR, which arrived at Daytona in a crate in ready-to-race condition, Yoshimura Suzuki’s 2004 lone Suzuki GSX-R600 arrived as a streetbike in a crate at their race shop in California 10 days before it was loaded in the truck.

“We only had a-week-and-a-half before it left,” said Yoshimura Suzuki team manager Don Sakakura. “We only had time to mount a pipe, do some slight (fuel-injection/ignition) mapping on the dyno and mount some bodywork.”