He only did a handful of testing laps in the off-season. He never saw his new racebike until he arrived at Daytona International Speedway, and the bike was fitted with completely different suspension than he has used in the past. Then he wrenched his back during his opening laps of practice. But in spite of all that, at the end of the day Wednesday, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin had posted the fastest lap time in AMA American Superbike practice at Daytona. “I hadn’t seen this bike until I got to the track yesterday,” said the six-time AMA Superbike Champion. “It’s a brand new bike, one that we’ve never done any time on. I literally had never sat on the bike. “And myself, as well. Since Laguna last year [the 2008 AMA season finale] in September, with today I’ve totaled about 30, 35 laps on a motorbike in those five months.” The differences between the Showa-suspended GSX-R1000 Superbike Mladin rode in 2008 and the Öhlins-suspended GSX-R1000 American Superbike he rode today are subtle to the casual observer, but to Mladin the two machines are hugely different. “It’s [American Superbike] a Superstock bike. It’s not a Superbike,” he said. “It’s a good motorbike. I was quickest today. I’d have to say it’s a pretty good motorbike to just jump on it, never turned a wheel and you end up quickest. It’s obviously a very good motorbike. It’s just not the type of motorbike I would prefer to be racing this year.” Mladin’s Crew Chief Peter Doyle said Mladin hurt his back during his opening laps of practice Wednesday morning, limiting him to only one flying lap in that session and causing him a great deal of pain during the afternoon session. But Mladin, as he always does in such situations, didn’t want to talk about the injury. “I don’t really care to go into it,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of issues at the moment.” Corona Extra Racing Honda’s Neil Hodgson was once again near the top of the order Wednesday afternoon, posting the second-fastest time, a 1:38.607, and he said he had more to come. Mladin’s teammate Tommy Hayden, the quickest rider in the morning session, was third in the afternoon and the only other rider to dip into the 1:38 bracket with his 1:38.927. Yamaha’s Ben Bostrom improved his best lap time by over three seconds, from a 1:42.691 in the morning to a 1:39.297 in the afternoon session, when he was fourth-fastest. Bostrom’s Crew Chief Jefferson Burks said they started the weekend with a brand new and completely different YZF-R1 than the version they tested all winter, so it was just a matter of time getting the new machine dialed in. Larry Pegram said he was hindered by a broken suspension piece of his Foremost Pegram Ducati 1098R in the afternoon session. Pegram’s crew found the broken piece at the conclusion of the session. Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates’ afternoon practice was interrupted by a minor crash when he said he tangled with another rider in Turn Five. Yates was uninjured. AMA Pro Racing AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike Presented by Parts Unlimited Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida March 4, 2009 Provisional Afternoon Practice Results (2.91-mile course, all on Dunlop tires): 1. Mat Mladin (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:38.540 2. Neil Hodgson (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:38.607 3. Tommy Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:38.927 4. Ben Bostrom (Yam YZF-R1), 1:39.297 5. Larry Pegram (Duc 1098R), 1:39.317 6. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:39.556, crash 7. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:39.611 8. Josh Hayes (Yam YZF-R1), 1:39.640 9. Michael Laverty (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:40.231 10. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:40.395 11. Taylor Knapp (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:40.511 12. David Anthony (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:40.779 13. Jeff Wood (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:41.521 14. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:41.724 15. Barrett Long (Duc 1098R), 1:41.876 16. Ryan Elleby (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:42.046 17. Hawk Mazzotta (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:42.300 18. Jeff Tigert (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:42.782 19. Scott Greenwood (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:42.895 20. Scott Jensen (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:43.056 21. Aaron Gobert (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:43.434 22. Jake Holden (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:43.469 23. Shane Narbonne (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:43.681 24. Mark Crozier (Yam YZF-R1), 1:43.803 25. Brad Hendry (Duc 1098R), 1:44.225 26. Brett McCormick (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:44.479 27. Dean Mizdal (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:44.892 28. Reno Karimian (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:44.946 29. David Loikits (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:45.407 30. Davie Stone (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:45.510 31. Shawn Higbee (Buell 1125R), 1:45.588 32. Josh Graham (Yam YZF-R1), 1:46.050 33. Eric Haugo (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:48.040 34. Larry Orde (Yam YZF-R1), 1:49.224 35. Johnny Rock Page (Yam YZF-R1), 1:50.768 36. Kevin Boisvert (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:52.830 37. Troy Vincent (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:56.355