Dunlop gears up for first AMA test

From AMA Pro Racing

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - The first official on-track activity for the new AMA Pro Racing and its debuting partner Dunlop Tires will take place at Daytona International Speedway this weekend with three full days of tire testing for the AMA Pro American Superbike and AMA Pro Daytona SportBike divisions, Dec. 5-7.

The all-day sessions will be run Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A pair of three-hour night practice sessions will also be held Friday and Saturday starting at 6 p.m. in preparation for the historic and season-opening Daytona 200 by Honda, March 6, that will be run under the lights for the first time.

Dunlop was named the exclusive Official Tire of AMA Pro Road Racing in late October and will be the sole tire supplier in each of AMA Pro's five road racing championships commencing in 2009.

Despite having little over a month to prepare for this weekend's first test, Dunlop will arrive in Daytona this week stocked and ready for the first American Superbike and Daytona SportBike laps on its tires on both the short (American Superbike) and full 3.56-mile long course (Daytona SportBike) configurations.

The AMA Pro SuperSport and AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT series will make their competitive debuts on the new tires in the near future while the Red Bull AMA U.S. Rookies Cup will also continue to compete on Dunlops in 2009.

Dunlop is a long-time supporter of AMA Pro Road Racing and the teams that have captured 22 Superbike championships, including the last 18 in a row. Dunlop also won 21 consecutive titles in the former Supersport division, was undefeated in AMA Superstock and captured all but one of the 11 titles in Formula Xtreme. Dunlop will also be supporting AMA Pro in both a marketing and technical role and will contribute to the AMA Pro Racing contingency program.