Fiat Yamaha Team's Valentino Rossi (Photo: Yamaha Racing) ยป More Photos
Control Tire Means No Advantage for Anyone
There is another question that needs to be asked first: do the riders in MotoGP who are calling for a control tire system fully understand that under such a system no special tires will be available for anyone? Surely former Superbike stars Chris Vermeulen (World Supersport Champion in 2003 and World Superbike runner-up in 2005) and James Toseland (2004 and 2007 World Superbike Champion), understand fully, but many MotoGP riders like Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa have become accustomed to demanding tires suited to their styles and preferences.
Obviously many in the elitist MotoGP paddock will be embarrassed by previous condemnation of single-tire racing, but journalists will remind those who were most outspoken in the past, especially people like Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, of the scorn he heaped upon World Superbike for making the change to a single-tire rule.
It Almost Happened Last Year
Last year, driven by Valentino Rossi’s demands and the need of the championship to have the Italian running at the front, Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta coerced Bridgestone to provide Rossi with tires, threatening the Japanese giant with a single tire series. In fact, Ezpeleta formulated and presented the proposal but withdrew it when Bridgestone and Michelin bosses agreed to a series of compromises, satisfying Michelin by increasing the number of tires available to each rider per Grand Prix but satisfying Bridgestone by continuing to allow no 'Saturday night specials' from Michelin to be introduced after the final selection of tires on Thursday evening.
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We still don’t know all the details of the horse-trading that went on between Dorna and the two tire companies, but the original demand from Dorna was for Bridgestone to supply tires for Dani Pedrosa as well, but apparently not for Nicky Hayden. However, something happened and, as stated above, Honda’s Fukui over-ruled HRC race boss Hamane, who had told journalists at the Japanese Grand Prix that we was requesting Bridgestone tires for both his riders.
Perhaps Fukui really decided to draw a line in the sand and honor Michelin, partners in so many winning seasons, with one more year to prove themselves, or perhaps Michelin, facing the ignominy of losing both Yamaha's and Honda's top riders and seeing themselves supplying the 'weak side' of two divided garages (because Honda’s HRC Repsol garage would have separated Pedrosa on Bridgestone from Hayden on Michelin just as FIAT Yamaha has placed a wall between the Rossi-Bridgestone and Lorenzo-Michelin sides of their garage), drew their own line in the sand and said that if they lost Pedrosa they would simply retire.
Michelin also promised to increase their race budget drastically and even went so far as to promise what no one can promise in a true tire war -- to be competitive.
It was at the GP of the Czech Republic in 2006 that Bridgestone finally gained the upper hand. With so much attention focused on the battle for the title between Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden, both on Michelin, not enough mention was made of the fact that the last four races were won by Bridgestone riders -- Marco Melandri, Loris Capirossi, Toni Elias and Troy Bayliss.
