Burgess: MotoGP Control Tyre Rule a “Big Mistake”

The deliberations surrounding MotoGP’s decision to switch to a Bridgestone control tyre in 2009 have continued to grow, with prominent voices speaking up for both sides of the argument. Valentino Rossi’s crew chief, Jerry Burgess, told the Italian magazine, Motosprint, that there was no need for the introduction of a new rule and that teams should be able to make up their own minds.

However Tony Carter, the MotoGP presenter on Eurosport, writes in his online article on 11 November, “As a race fan, all I want to see is rider against rider, machine against machine. I like the idea of a proper scrap where lesser factors like which type of a particular niche rubber compound by any of three or four manufacturers don’t come into it.” The issue is currently the subject of Tyrepress.com’s Question of the Month, provoking similar levels of debate among tyre industry readers.

Burgess states that, “The single tyre rule is a big mistake. It’s a sport for prototypes where we develop technology, so we need the confrontation between the highest possible number of technical partners and not the other way around. Also, we must not force the teams to make certain technical choices, because teams will usually make the right choices when left to make their own decisions. You just need to look at this tyre case: Ducati, Yamaha and Honda have all gone for Bridgestone autonomously. There is no need to be forced by a rule book.” In other words, Burgess believes the idea that making the control tyre a subject for the rule book has limited the ability of teams to make autonomous decisions about their riders’ setup, stunting teams’ own organic growth.

He also believes that the decision has been made in order to force more competitive riding, something he does not believe will automatically occur because of this ruling. Carter clearly believes that a single tyre choice will do exactly this: “one-make tyre rules do make for fine action and close racing.” We will have to wait until this time next year – when MotoGP’s 2009 season will have finished – to decide whether a sole tyre supplier can help other riders overcome Rossi’s large advantage over the rest of the field. Since Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, Rossi’s closest rivals, both finished 2008 on Bridgestone rubber anyway, will the move have the desired impact?