Ben Bostrom looking pensive at the '99 Dunlop tire test at Daytona. image by dean adams

If you're gearing up for the annual media frenzy that is the December Dunlop tire test at Daytona, you can stand down from DefCon 5.

The annual "tire test" was usually the place where new bikes, riders and teams debuted.

There won't be a motorcycle tire test at the Speedway this Fall for the first time since the very early 1990s. With a spec tire rule governing the DMG series and a largely trouble-free--from a tire perspective--Daytona 200 last March, there isn't an intense need to test tires at the moment.