Following two days of tests at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) by Honda, Kawasaki and HMC Ducati on Monday and Tuesday, factory teams will return to VIR again next week.

The next round of factory Superbike team tests will be August 13, 14 and 15 and will include Honda, Yamaha and Yoshimura Suzuki.

Factory teams use such testing to develop machines and refine set-ups.

Leading factory teams spend an estimated $70,000 to $100,000 each on stand-alone testing during a typical calendar year.

Factory teams want an end to Thursday practice prior to AMA National races, prefering to use Thursday to park their semi-trucks and set up their pit areas, and claiming that the extra expense of showing up on Wednesday to set up instead of on Thursday is a budgetary burden.

Private teams and riders unable to afford extensive stand-alone tests rely on pre-event Thursday practice to develop and set up racebikes.

AMA Pro Racing officials and representatives of factory teams have not been sympathetic to the Thursday practice needs of non-factory teams and riders, and, earlier this year, AMA officials flatly stated that Thursday practice will be eliminated next year.