Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies was the fastest rider at the rain-interrupted Dunlop tire test, held December 10-12 at Daytona International Speedway. Riding his GSX-R1000 Superbike on a “softer” rear slick, Spies turned a 1:37.308 around the 2.95-mile infield road course. Not only was Spies’ time the fastest of the test, it was also faster than Mat Mladin’s AMA Superbike lap record of Daytona, 1:38.232. Portions of the Daytona infield road course have been repaved — and according to the riders improved — since March 2005, when Mladin set the lap record. “It was good,” Spies said of his test. “We got a lot of time today on the big bike and got a really good race set-up. We can do high-1:37s and low-1:38s all day long. So when we come back here in March we will be ready to go.” Spies exchanged the top spot on the timing monitor Monday with Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin’s Ben Bostrom, who turned a best of 1:37.849, not long before crashing his back-up 999F06. Even though the six-time World Superbike race winner’s crash was a lowside in the slowest corner of the track, turn five, his Ducati flipped and broke its swingarm off at the pivot. Bostrom was uninjured in the crash, however, and his enthusiasm for his new ride and the coming season was not lessened. Spies’ teammate Aaron Yates was third-fastest overall on his GSX-R1000 Superbike (1:38.371) and second-fastest on his Superstock GSX-R1000 (1:39.455, turned Monday morning). Yates was one of the busiest testers at the track, evaluating nearly all of the many Superbike and Superstock tires Dunlop brought to the test. The fastest Superstock rider at Daytona was Jason DiSalvo, who turned a 1:38.961 Monday afternoon on his Yamaha YZF-R1 LE. The current Daytona Superstock lap record is a 1:39.667 set by Yates in 2005. In addition, DiSalvo was consistently the fastest in the Formula Xtreme category, turning a best time of 1:41.647 on his all-new YZF-R6. The Daytona lap record in Formula Xtreme is Miguel Duhamel’s 1:42.593. Duhamel split his time between his CBR600RR Formula Xtreme machine and his CBR1000RR Superbike (both of which were equipped with Ohlins suspension) and turned the second-quickest FX lap time (1:42.663) of the test during a 200-mile run Monday morning. The fastest man on a Supersport bike at the test was Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking with a 1:42.210 (faster than the fastest lap for the March 2005 AMA Supersport event at Daytona, Tommy Hayden’s 1:42.358). Hacking ended the event much more comfortable on his new YZF-R6, and on his Superstock YZF-R1, than at the start in spite of not being fully recovered from elbow injuries suffered in a training accident earlier this year. Likewise, Eric Bostrom, the third Yamaha rider, gained considerable comfort and speed on his new Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock racer and his YZF-R6 Formula Xtreme bike. Eric Bostrom said he hadn’t ridden an inline four-cylinder motorcycle since 2003, and the last time he raced a 600cc motorcycle was at Daytona in 2002. As reported earlier, six-time and defending AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin did not attend the test at Daytona due to his extended recovery from off-season surgery. Mladin is scheduled to have his first test of the off-season in early January at Eastern Creek Raceway in Australia. Monday Afternoon AMA Team Test Times (as supplied by AMA Pro Racing): 1. Ben Spies (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:37.308 Superbike 2. Ben Bostrom (Duc 999F06) 1:37.849 Superbike 3. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:38.371 Superbike 4. Neil Hodgson (Duc 999F06) 1:38.707 Superbike 5. Jason DiSalvo (Yam YZF-R1) 1:38.961 Superstock 6. Jake Zemke (Hon CBR1000RR) 1:39.226 Superbike 7. Roger Hayden (Kaw ZX-10R) 1:39.334 Superbike 8. Miguel Duhamel (Hon CBR1000RR) 1:39.374 Superbike 9. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:39.536 Superstock 10. Jamie Hacking (Yam YZF-R1) 1:39.643 Superstock 11. Eric Bostrom (Yam YZF-R1) 1:40.431 Superstock 12. Jason Pridmore (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:41.089 Superstock 13. Ben Attard (Kaw ZX-10R) 1:41.143 Superstock 14. Steve Rapp (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:41.440 Superstock 15. Jake Holden (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:41.475 Superstock 16. Josh Hayes (Hon CBR1000RR) 1:41.578 Superstock 17. Jason DiSalvo (Yam YZF-R6) 1:42.084 Formula Xtreme 18. Jamie Hacking (Yam YZF-R6) 1:42.314 Supersport 19. Josh Hayes (Hon CBR600RR) 1:42.796 Formula Xtreme 20. Damon Buckmaster (Kaw ZX-6RR) 1:42.931 Supersport 21. Aaron Gobert (Hon CBR600RR) 1:42.978 Formula Xtreme 22. Tommy Hayden (Kaw ZX-6RR) 1:43.302 Supersport 23. Jake Zemke (Hon CBR600RR) 1:43.346 Formula Xtreme 24. Eric Bostrom (Yam YZF-R6) 1:43.901 Formula Xtreme 25. Ben Attard (Kaw ZX-6RR) 1:44.452 Supersport 26. Ben Spies (Suz GSX-R600) 1:44.534 Supersport 27. Ty Howard (Hon CBR600RR) 1:45.617 Formula Xtreme 28. Ryan Andrews (Hon CBR600RR) 1:45.897 Formula Xtreme