New Pavement at Daytona Tested by AMA Pro Riders

Following the first tire test prior to the 2011 season made by several NASCAR teams last week, motorcycles took their turn on the newly repaved track at the Daytona International Speedway (DIS). Specifically, various Superbike and Daytona Sportbike classes of AMA Pro Racing participated in a two-day Dunlop tire test in advance of March’s Daytona 200 Week.

Daytona International Speedway’s 2.5-mile tri-oval, pit road, skid pad and apron was repaved following the Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola in July, for the second time in its history.

Some of the riders that tested the new racing surface included Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes and Josh Herrin, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden and Blake Young, Pegram Racing’s Larry Pegram, Vesrah Suzuki’s Cory West and Celtic Racing’s P.J. Jacobsen.

"The race track has done a fantastic job with the paving job and Dunlop has done a real good job showing up with tires that are safe,” said Hayes, who is the 2010 AMA Pro SuperBike champion. “We are all going around the race track having fun and have nothing but good things to say so far. I’m looking forward to coming back in January (to test) and then coming back and racing in March.”

“It’s nice and smooth,” said Herrin, the 2010 Daytona 200 champion. “It’s easy to see now. There’s no bumps and it’s going to be make the 200 miles a lot easier up on the banking not being so bumpy. The chest isn’t sore today. It’s usually sore from all the bumps but it’s been really good.”

Hayden was also pleased by the changes throughout the superspeedway portion of the track. “It’s definitely different,” he said. “It’s way smoother, the bike moves around a lot less and it has a lot more grip.”

Motorcycles will return to DIS on January 17-18, 2011, for another Dunlop tire test. Daytona 200 Week will kick off with the Daytona Supercross By Honda on March 5 and conclude the following weekend with the Daytona 200 on March 12.