Two-time and defending AMA Superbike Champion Ben Spies was unofficially the fastest rider during the abbreviated first day of Dunlop’s annual winter tire test at Daytona International Speedway, clocking a 1:37.2 lap time on the revised infield road course. Testing did not start until approximately 3:30 p.m. local time Friday afternoon, after the track dried out from overnight rains and a morning mist. “It went good,” Spies told Roadracingworld.com. The young Texan rode his 2007-model Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 fitted with a new set of forks and new bodywork. “We were working with a little issue with the back end of the bike. We had a shock control problem, but we got that figured out and got going in a decent direction.” Spies’ teammate and chief rival Mat Mladin was second-fastest with a 1:37.9. Mladin said he started out with his settings from the 2007 race at Daytona and confirmed that the set-up he and his crew developed over the course of the season was indeed better than what they started the year with. Two seconds off Spies’ time but third-fastest overall was Jamie Hacking, who was making his first ever laps on his new Monster Energy Kawasaki ZX-10R Superbike. Hacking said each of his bikes had a different chassis set-up, but both were better than what he rode last season in terms of the chassis and the engine performance. Tommy Hayden split his 90 minutes of track time between his brand new Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R600 Supersport bike and his GSX-R1000 Superbike. In spite of still recovering from recent shoulder surgery and only a limited number of laps, the eldest Hayden brother posted the fourth-fastest time in the Superbike class. Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo tested Brembo and Nissin brake set-ups and last season’s Daytona race tire back-to-back with a new tire on his 2007 YZF-R1 Superbike, while teammate Eric Bostrom rode their single, 2008-spec YZF-R1, which was slowed by some electrical gremlins. Aaron Yates got started on his Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superstock bike, while teammate Geoff May started working on getting acclimated to his new team and to Dunlop tires. Neil Hodgson, the sole American Honda rider, spent much of his time on the CBR600RR he will race in the 2008 Daytona 200, but at the end of the day he did a handful of laps on his very-stock 2008 CBR1000RR to set the position of the hand and foot controls. Hodgson’s 1:42.89 was the quickest 600cc lap time of the day. The fastest Supersport rider Friday was Erion Honda’s Josh Hayes, who turned a 1:43.02 on his CBR600RR, just quicker than his new teammate Jake Zemke, who did a 1:43.21, and Graves Yamaha’s Ben Bostrom, who recorded a 1:43.43. Dunlop Tire Test Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida November 30, 2007 Unofficial Lap Times (as provided by each respective team): 1. Ben Spies (Suz GSX-R1000), Superbike, 1:37.2 2. Mat Mladin (Suz GSX-R1000), Superbike, 1:37.9 3. Jamie Hacking (Kaw ZX-10R), Superbike, 1:39.1 4. Tommy Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), Superbike, 1:39.8 5. Jason DiSalvo (Yam YZF-R1), Superbike, 1:39.91 6. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000), Superstock, 1:40.1 7. Eric Bostrom (Yam YZF-R1), Superbike, 1:40.2 8. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R1000), Superstock, 1:42.1 9. Neil Hodgson (Hon CBR600RR), Formula Xtreme, 1:42.89 10. Josh Hayes (Hon CBR600RR), Supersport, 1:43.02 11. Neil Hodgson (Hon CBR1000RR), Superbike, 1:43.14 12. Jake Zemke (Hon CBR600RR), Supersport, 1:43.21 13. Ben Bostrom (Yam YZF-R6), Supersport, 1:43.43 14. Chris Peris (Suz GSX-R1000), Superstock, 1:43.5 15. Josh Herrin (Yam YZF-R6), Supersport, 1:44.2 16. Roger Hayden (Kaw ZX-6R), Supersport, 1:45.0 17. Tommy Hayden (Suz GSX-R600), Supersport, 1:45.2 18. Aaron Gobert (Hon CBR600RR), Supersport, 1:45.70 19. Shea Fouchek (Hon CBR600RR), Supersport, 1:45.75 20. Akira Yanagawa (Kaw ZX-10R), Superbike, no time reported