2009 AMA Pro American Superbike Championship runner-up Josh Hayes was the fastest rider as Graves Yamaha and Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki concluded a two-day test today at Auto Club Speedway, in Fontana, California. In spite of riding on a dirty track with relatively low levels of grip, Hayes lapped the 2.3-mile infield road course in 1:24.3, according to his team, which is 0.6 second faster than Hayes went all weekend during the 2009 race event at the track, he said. “I think a lot of that shows the improvement we made to our bike over the 2009 season,” Hayes said when asked about his best time, which came during a string of laps in the 1:24 range. “We came here with the set-up we had at New Jersey [Motorsports Park], and tried some things here and there, some chassis parts and some electronic stuff this morning. For us to go faster than we did at the race with the conditions less than ideal I’m really happy about that. Considering this was one of our worst tracks last year, for us to go quicker and the other guys to go slower than they did I feel like we could have a really good season next year.” The other guys Hayes referred to were Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden and Blake Young, the only two riders the downsized team will field in 2010. To compare times between Hayes and the Suzuki riders isn’t completely fair for a number of reasons. First, Hayes has tested once this off-season already, and Hayden and Young have not ridden their bikes since the last AMA race at the beginning of September. Secondly, Hayden and Young have not truly ridden their 2009-model GSX-R1000s at Auto Club Speedway before. They each did a few laps on very-stock K9 machines during an early-2009 test at the track, but they raced their 2008 GSX-R1000s at Auto Club Speedway in 2009. Lastly, the Suzuki riders had much more hardware to test over the two days, including new-spec engines and back-to-back comparisons between Öhlins and Race Tech shocks. “It was productive,” said Hayden, who did a best lap of 1:24.80 on a 20-lap-old rear tire. That time was about one second slower than the best lap he turned racing his GSX-R1000K8 at Auto Club Speedway in 2009, he said. “We had a lot of different stuff to try at this test, so it was hard to keep focused and not get lost.” Asked for his impression of the Race Tech shocks, Hayden said, “It was different, but for someone we’ve never worked with before and the amount of time we gave them it went better than I expected, not bad.” Young had the same work load at the test as Hayden, plus he was tasked with learning to work with his new Crew Chief Peter Doyle, who served as Mat Mladin’s Crew Chief for the last several seasons. “It gives you a lot of confidence to work with someone like him [Doyle],” said Young, who turned a best lap of 1:25.4. “Everything he says you listen to because 99% of the time he’s right. “Everything we did was positive. Not all of the changes we made were good, but we knew why they were good or bad and we got our communication working well from the beginning. Other than the lap time, I thought it was a really good test for us.” Graves Yamaha’s Daytona SportBike riders Josh Herrin and Tommy Aquino also tested. Both of the young riders went faster during the test than they had during the 2009 race weekend at Auto Club Speedway, and both found this to be a huge positive because neither rider considers himself to be a strong “tester.” Normally, a test at Auto Club Speedway attracts more of the factory and satellite teams based in Southern California, but Honda has publicly withdrawn its support to AMA Pro Road Racing for 2010 and Kawasaki has not yet formed its 2010 road racing plans, according to Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Team Owner Richard Stanboli. “Nothing is settled yet,” Stanboli told Roadracingworld.com Wednesday. “We’re waiting for the bosses to make up their minds.” Unofficial Best Times (as supplied by each rider’s Crew Chief, all on Dunlop tires): 1. Josh Hayes (Yam YZF-R1), American Superbike, 1:24.3 2. Tommy Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000K9), American Superbike, 1:24.8 3. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R1000K9), American Superbike, 1:25.4 4. Josh Herrin (Yam YZF-R6), Daytona SportBike, 1:27.4 5. Tommy Aquino (Yam YZF-R6), Daytona SportBike, 1:28.5