The first official on-track activity for the new AMA Pro Racing and its debuting partner Dunlop tyres will take place at Daytona International Speedway this weekend with three full days of tyre testing for the AMA Pro American Superbike and AMA Pro Daytona SportBike divisions, December 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 tyre of AMA Pro Road Racing in late October and will be the sole tyre 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 tyres 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 tyres 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 programme.
Dunlop's racing debut and the 2009 AMA Pro Road Racing season will begin at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) the first weekend in March. The weekend will be highlighted by the first Daytona 200 by Honda under the lights, Friday, March 6, for the Daytona SportBike division. The Daytona kick-off will also feature American Superbike competition and races for each of AMA Pro Road Racing's other championships.
