TOOELE VALLEY, UTAH The top teams from the AMA Superbike Championship presented by Parts Unlimited finished up a two-day test at Miller Motorsports Park [Thursday] in preparation for the upcoming Honda Summit of Speed, which will be the undercard to the HANNspree Superbike World Championship® StriVectin-SD® USA Round over the weekend of May 29-June 1. The AMA teams will be running on the 4.5-mile Full Course this year for the first time, having run the 3.048-mile Outer Course the past two years, and the riders were very complimentary of the layout. “I definitely like it,” said two-time and defending Superbike champion Ben Spies, who rides for the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team. “It’s a bit long, but it’s fun. With that many corners, and the different styles of corners, it throws curveballs at you in trying to get your bike set up.” Spies’ teammate, six-time champion Mat Mladin, was equally effusive in his praise for the longer circuit. “I love it,” he said. “It’s fantastic. At the moment, our lap times are down around the 2:47 range, and it’s the longest lap I’ve ever done. The infield part of the track is a lot of fun.” Neil Hodgson is a new arrival to the factory Honda team this year, and raced at Miller Motorsports Park for Ducati in 2006. As the 2003 World Superbike champion, he has raced all over the world and is well qualified to put the track in perspective. “This is probably my favorite track in the whole series,” he said. “I’ve raced in championships all over the world, and this track is more like what I’m used to racing on. A lot of tracks in America are quite small and twisty, and this is more a proper racing track. It’s a pleasure to ride around.” The fact that the Full Course is 50 percent longer and contains 50 percent more corners than the Outer Course won’t make any difference or provide anyone an advantage, according to Spies. “I think it’s still going to be the same outcome,” he said. “The fast guys are going to be up front. It might be a little closer racing; it always is at altitude, for some reason, but I think it’s going to be good.” The AMA Superbike teams will be racing at Infineon Raceway in Northern California next weekend, May 16-18, before returning to Utah for the Honda Summit of Speed. The HANNspree Superbike World Championship® StriVectin-SD® USA Round and Honda Summit of Speed AMA Superbike Championship weekend will be the biggest event ever staged at Miller Motorsports Park, and may well be the biggest international sporting event in the State of Utah since the 2002 Winter Olympics. The Superbike World Championship races will be broadcast live on 95 television networks to 173 countries and an estimated television audience of 120 million. Advance ticket sales have already exceeded any other event in the track’s history. The event will be four days of on-track action, plus a myriad of off-track entertainment for fans including stunt bikes, freestyle motocross exhibitions, live bands, helicopter rides and sky diving. Fans are also invited to the Zantrex-3 Insta-Shot Bike Bash at Gallivan Center in downtown Salt Lake City at 6:00 pm on May 29, featuring live music from the band “Chevelle,” BMX and freestyle motocross exhibitions, plus an autograph session with many of the top World Superbike and AMA Superbike riders. For more information, or to purchase tickets, call (435) 277-RACE (7223) or visit www.MillerMotorsportsPark.com.