For the second day in a row American Honda’s Neil Hodgson was the fastest rider in the American Superbike class at the AMA Pro Racing tire test at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida. Riding a CBR1000RR built to the current version of the 2009 American Superbike rules, Hodgson lapped the 2.91-mile version of the infield road course in 1:38.535, which was slightly quicker than his time from Friday, 1:38.626. “We’re just going through some bits,” Hodgson told Roadracingworld.com. “I’m still just trying to get comfortable, believe it or not. Everything’s all right. I’m just trying to get my head around having no grip in the infield.” Part of Hodgson’s lack of grip was due to the nature of Daytona-spec tires, which need to have very hard compounds and constructions to withstand the speed, heat and force experienced while on the banking. Grip was also down due to early morning rains that washed all of Friday’s rubber off the surface and forced Daytona SportBike testers to lose their Saturday morning session. “I hate a green track,” said Hodgson. “There’s no grip here anyway, and when it’s green it’s just crap.” AMA Pro Racing timing and scoring started recording trap speeds at the start/finish line Saturday, and Hodgson’s bike was consistently fastest all afternoon and reached a top speed of 192.666 mph with stock pistons and connecting rods. Ben Bostrom’s factory Yamaha YZF-R1 was sixth-fastest through the speed trap out of the seven bikes that took to the track today, but that didn’t stop the Californian from shaving 1.4 seconds from his best time on Friday, a 1:39.893 vs. a 1:41.292. Bostrom said improvements to his front-end set-up and fuel-injection mapping made the difference. “The fuel mapping was great,” said the 2008 AMA Supersport Champion. “Vito [Bolognesi, Engine Data Technician] kept chipping away at that trying to make it more like an electronic motor. And that helped out tons initially, made the bike much more comfortable to ride, but we were still struggling with the front. Then the boys figured that one out, too. So we’re definitely working in the right direction now. It’s less stress on the mind when the front end started working again. I didn’t have to worry as much, and the times came a lot easier. The bike’s going to be really good. I can’t wait until the boys get the time to work on the motor, as well.” Larry Pegram was third-fastest in terms of lap times and trap speeds on his LeoVince Foremost Insurance Ducati 1098 R. Pegram shaved a half-second from his time with changes to his suspension but felt he should have gone even quicker. After losing most of Friday’s practice to electrical gremlins Bostrom’s teammate Josh Hayes quickly got up to speed on his YZF-R1 American Superbike. Hayes said he was simply working to get comfortable on his new motorcycle, which he said acts more like a V-Twin than a high-revving Inline Four. Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki’s Chris Ulrich lowered his lap times by a full second thanks in part to the straight line speed (188.940 mph, second-fastest) of his 2008 AMA Superstock-spec GSX-R1000. Ulrich said he was slowly but surely getting acclimated to the new Dunlop control tires after racing on Pirellis for the last few seasons. Jeremy McWilliams and Shawn Higbee shared a Buell 1125R during the session and turned roughly equal lap times. The machine they rode was Daytona SportBike-legal, but they used the machine to get set-up information for American Superbike slicks. American Honda R&D test rider Doug Toland rounded out the time sheet Saturday with a 1:46.311 on his 2008 CBR1000RR AMA Superbike machine. The American Superbike class will get another four hours of track time Sunday afternoon. AMA Pro Racing Tire Test Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida December 6, 2008 American Superbike Provisional Test Times (all on Dunlop tires, as supplied by AMA Pro Racing and teams): 1. Neil Hodgson (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:38.535, 192.666 mph 2. Ben Bostrom (Yam YZF-R1), 1:39.893, 183.915 mph 3. Larry Pegram (Duc 1098 R), 1:40.060, 188.702 mph 4. Josh Hayes (Yam YZF-R1), 1:40.766, 187.443 mph 5. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:41.166, 188.940 mph 6. Jeremy McWilliams (Buell 1125R), 1:44.051, 165.375 mph 7. Shawn Higbee (Buell 1125R), 1:44.85 8. Doug Toland (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:46.311, 187.443 mph