It began as a rumor that slowly pinballed from one end of the Motegi press room to the other. By the time Carmelo Ezpeleta, the genial CEO of Dorna (the Spanish company that has the promotional rights to the MotoGP World Championship), was able to receive a trio of English-language journalists a day later on the morning of the Japanese Grand Prix, his proposal-which had sparked a firestorm when it first appeared late Saturday on the official MotoGP website—was well known and exhaustively debated.
"The problem is the result of the races," Ezpeleta said. "The impact on the show has been very bad." So he floated the idea of spec tires in MotoGP. The reactions were almost equally split between condemnation and commendation. And now the proposal is being considered for the AMA Superbike Championship.
Casey Stoner was largely responsible for the MotoGP curveball. The 21-year-old Australian was not only winning, he was winning by big margins. But more importantly, Valentino Rossi wasn't winning. The seven-time world champion is the consummate showman; if he chases the leader for most of the race and makes a pass on the final lap, he is hailed as the conquering hero. And so everyone sticks around to see how the races end.
But when Rossi was winning tires weren't an issue. A few years ago Bridgestone was still maturing and not a consistent threat, but that changed dramatically in 2007. The world's largest tire company builds tires that work over a wide range of temperatures, unlike Michelin, which builds very narrowly focused tires due to the French company's C3M-process "overnight specials."
In the twists and turns in the days following the Motegi GP weekend suggested that Bridgestone would end up being the sole supplier, even though Yamada was against it. "This has not been decided yet, but if they decide to go to one-make rule, then I'm very disappointed," Yamada explained. "If we have no competition then I won't have the same feeling that I did today when we won the championship."
But in the end, Bridgestone got another premier rider for 2008, Michelin ramped up its program, the tire restrictions were loosened and the show went on. Ezpeleta brokered a deal three weeks later that put Rossi on Bridgestone tires (his teammate Jorge Lorenzo will remain on Michelins). The Italian press reported that Ezpeleta visited Rossi in his hotel room, where Rossi threatened to quit if he didn't get Bridgestones.
