Giles tested Dunlop's new control tyre for 2010.

Three-time Australian Superbike Champion Shawn Giles has been the first rider to sample the new Dunlop ASBK control tyre to be introduced in 2010, testing the tyre at Phillip Island in the lead-up to the ASBK season finale.

The Team Joe Rocket Suzuki veteran, who finished fourth in this year’s title after a podium performance at the Island, completed limited laps on the rear tyre of the new Dunlop Sportmax D211 GP Racer Slick that will be used next season.

“I was actually surprised that it had as much grip as what it did,” Giles admitted after the test. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was actually quite good considering we didn’t change the setting of the bike at all to suit it at the test.”

A cost effective control tyre will be introduced for next season despite most competitors using Dunlop already, replacing the expensive N-Tec slick with a French-built tyre that will be around 30 percent lower in price according to Dunlop Australia.

The new control tyre will likely be priced at $595.00 per set from Dunlop ($265.00/front and $330.00/rear), although it’s not expected that the tyres will arrive until at least February.

For comparison, the current N-Tecs were $725.00 this season, with a price rise to over $800 per set expected for next season if Dunlop was to continue distributing that particular tyre.

Three different compounds will be available in the new control tyre – soft, medium and endurance (hard) – and it’s believed that the new Superstock 1000 A category that’s to be run within the Superbike field will also be using the slick.

Meanwhile, the Supersport and Superstock categories also feature a dramatic price decrease with the use of Dunlop’s Sportmax GP-A, which has been the current tyre for 600cc racing in the U.S during 2009.

The same GP-A tyre will be utilised in both the Supersport and Superstock categories, priced at $470.00 ($200/front and $270/rear) compared to the $665.00 price of the N-Tec tyre that was used in Supersport this year.

A revised tyre allocation list has also been introduced for the new year, with the breakout panel featuring the amount allowed per round for each of the ASBK categories in 2010.

The same tyres will also be used in the Formula Xtreme series, with the slick being used in the F1 and F2 Pro-Twins series and the treaded tyre being used in the FX1000 and FX600 series.

Provisional 2010 Control Tyre Allocation

Category                      Tyres per round
Superbike                    3 sets
Supersport                  2 fronts/3 rears
Superstock 600        1 set
Superstock 1000     TBA
125GP/250-Mono   2 sets
Juniors                          1 set