Pirelli tyres may be the current Motocross World Champions with Antonio Cairoli in MX1 and Marvin Musquin in MX2, but when it comes to the United States, the Italian company is only just getting started.

In a series that’s been dominated by Japanese manufacturer Dunlop for years, this season saw Pirelli sign up the JGR/Muscle Milk/Yamaha team owned by the legendary Joe Gibbs, and the results are already starting to come.

MotoOnline.com.au was on hand at the Freestone round of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship earlier this month, offered a unique opportunity to cover Pirelli’s involvement with the JGR team thanks to team manager Jeremy Albrecht.

Joe Gibbs Racing has switched to Pirelli for the 2011 season. Image: Alex Gobert.

It just so happened that Freestone’s round, held in the searing heat of Wortham in Texas, marked Millsaps’ first podium of the season in second overall and he says Pirelli is working to his advantage in the early part of the nationals.

“We tested the tyre back at the end of last year for the first time and I felt straight away that they were really good,” Millsaps told MotoOnline.com.au. “It gave us something different to run other than Dunlop and I felt like that could be an advantage for us. Pirelli is always trying to find something better with the tyres and ways to improve, so it’s pretty cool to be involved with such a great company and hopefully we are for a long time to come.”

Millsaps says he took great confidence in the fact that Pirelli has been so strong in Europe and GP racing, even though he was uncertain how the tyres would handle the different stresses placed upon them in supercross. In the end, that didn’t prove to be a problem and they’re improving all the time – especially in the whoops as Pirelli works to find the best compounds and constructions.

“In the GPs all they basically run is Pirelli, so I knew that they weren’t too bad from the get go,” Millsaps explained. “I wasn’t sure how they’d be at supercross, but I actually loved them. I think that outdoors we have an advantage with the tyres just because they’ve had so much support in the GPs, especially with that paddle tyre we have for the sand. It’s definitely going to be a good company to have behind me all season.”

Pirelli's sole focus in the AMA Pro Motocross series is the JGR team. Image: Alex Gobert.

Vital in Pirelli’s push for AMA supremacy is the North Carolina-based JGR team with Millsaps, and he’s thoroughly enjoying taking tyre development into his own hands compared to in the past. While the team does race on the production Scorpion MX range, which features five options to suit varying terrains, the team is also developing factory-spec tyres that will eventually filter across to the public.

“I like developing the tyres and it’s cool that they’re willing to try different things such as compounds and stuff like that to see what works better,” he said. “It’s cool for me to be a part of that, because normally it’s someone else developing the tyres. For Pirelli and I – plus the JGR team – we are working together developing the tyres, working on good Supercross tyres and even better outdoor ones – it’s awesome to be a part of.”

Albrecht, who is a legendary mechanic and widely respected team manager in the U.S, told us that the opportunity to work with Pirelli in search of an advantage became too hard to refuse in 2011.

“Originally we always tested every option every year and this year the Pirelli option was great,” Albrecht commented. “Davi actually liked the tyre better so that was an easy choice, while [Justin] Brayton thought they were equal for him. So, we went for a company that’s going to be behind us and we are the only ones on them. That’s a positive for us, so we’re just going to build stuff every year.”

Pirelli has a large selection of production and factory-spec tyres for JGR. Image: Alex Gobert.

He also acknowledges that Pirelli doesn’t have the runs on the board in AMA Supercross, but that didn’t prove an issue during the entire 2011 season and he expects them to continue improving as their relationship blossoms. Millsapd finished eighth in the series with Brayton ninth even though he missed multiple rounds, and both finished as high up as fourth in the main events while also scoring heat race wins.

“We’re really pushing to develop them in supercross because that’s where everyone thinks they’re not good, but we’ve been testing them all year and they’re actually really great,” Albrecht added. “Dunlop is with everybody, so we wanted to take the chance to be with Pirelli and improve our chances of being up front – if we’re all on the same stuff, how can we beat them?”

“Really, obviously Pirelli is a premium brand and everyone knows what it is. In America in everyone’s mind, because we’re all stubborn, everybody thinks that because nobody’s won on Pirellis in supercross then they don’t work. It doesn’t mean they don’t, it just means they haven’t done it yet.”

While supercross is still work in progress of sorts for Pirelli and the team even though they did taste success, Albrecht knew that the tyres would be more than capable in the outdoors.

“Outdoors we all felt comfortable that the tyres would be great just because of their success in the GPs,” he continued. “When they came to Glen Helen on our tracks in the U.S, Pirelli still swept the podium, so obviously the tyres are good. It’s just getting the riders to believe in them and working with them to build confidence. That’s really what we’re all doing.”

Millsaps earned his first podium of the season at Freestone with Pirelli. Image: Alex Gobert.

The JGR and Pirelli partnership is destined for success both indoors and out, a relationship that could stamp the brand on the American motocross and supercross map once and for all.

Pirelli riders have won a remarkable total of 54 world championships, also winning the Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals, Monster Energy Super X, the Australian Four Day Enduro and also the Australian Off Road Championship on Australian soil in recent years.

Check out Pirelli’s Australian distributor Link International by clicking here for more information on the brand.