Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies was the fastest man as a two-day, multi-team test concluded Wednesday at California Speedway, in Fontana, California. The two-time and defending AMA Superbike Champion used a 2008-spec rear Dunlop race tire on his GSX-R1000 Superbike to lap the 2.3-mile, 21-turn track in 1:22.4, which was faster than his official lap record of 1:22.939 (from 2006) and much faster than his fastest race lap from 2007, a 1:23.702. “It was good. We got down to a quick lap. We were also putting together some good [consistent] times,” said Spies, after he ended his test early Wednesday afternoon. The young Texan said the head cold that he had been suffering from for the last several days was starting to make him feel “really foggy and not quite there. I told the guys that there were a couple of things we needed to test that we didn’t need to go really fast to test. I told them if we did that we would be done for the day. We had a really good morning and a good day yesterday and a good test, overall.” Asked about his still-healing right shoulder, Spies replied, “It’s good. It’s not 100%, but it’s getting there and it’s not affecting me on the bike. It’s just not quite there all the way, but it’s coming along fine. I’m happy for my first time back on the bike, being under the track record and all that good stuff. It seems to be working pretty good.” Spies’ teammate and chief rival Mat Mladin lowered his time from a 1:23.7 Tuesday to a 1:23.0 Wednesday and was second-quickest for the second consecutive day. Mladin’s test ended prematurely, however, when he lost the front and crashed in Turn Seven, the left-hand portion of a chicane preceding right-hand Turn Nine. “I don’t know,” said Mladin, when asked what happened when he fell. “I was just putting a couple of rear tires in, actually. “It’s [test] been good, not too bad. We consistently got going, and so it wasn’t too bad. We got through a few tires, a little of this and that, not too bad.” Mladin was not seriously injured in his fall, but there was not enough time to repair his GSX-R1000 before the end of the day and his second bike was in a different state of tune. Mladin and his crew, therefore, decided to close out their test. Mladin wasn’t the only faller on the day. Matsushima Suzuki’s Chris Siebenhaar suffered a lowside crash going into the fast Turn One chicane at mid-day, and Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke suffered two crashes, a simple lowside crash on his CBR600RR Supersport bike and a more serious highside off his Formula Xtreme machine, which ended his test. Zemke was unavailable for immediate comment, but according to his Crew Chief John Ethell and eyewitness Roger Hayden, Zemke highsided in Turn Four when he got off line (to avoid another rider who had gone off line in front of him) and onto a dirty portion of the track. Ethell went on to say Zemke suffered a round puncture wound in his right knee that would probably require stitches to close. Weather conditions Wednesday were better than on Tuesday with warmer temperatures throughout the day and less wind. For most teams the test at California Speedway was their last before the 2008 season opens at Daytona International Speedway in early March. AMA Teams Test California Speedway Fontana, California February 6, 2007 Unofficial Lap Times (as supplied by each team): 1. Ben Spies (Suz GSX-R1000), Superbike, Dunlop, 1:22.4 2. Mat Mladin (Suz GSX-R1000), Superbike, Dunlop, 1:23.0 3. TIE, Jason DiSalvo (Yam YZF-R1), Superbike, Dunlop/Tommy Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000), Superbike, Dunlop, 1:23.90 5. Jamie Hacking (Kaw ZX-10R), Superbike, Dunlop, 1:24.0 6. Neil Hodgson (Hon CBR1000RR), Superbike, Dunlop, 1:24.12 7. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000), Superbike, Dunlop, 1:24.2 8. Eric Bostrom (Yam YZF-R1), Superbike, Dunlop, 1:24.4 9. TIE, Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000), Superstock, Dunlop/Akira Yanagawa (Kaw ZX-10R), Superbike, Dunlop, 1:25.0 11. Miguel Duhamel (Hon CBR1000RR), Superbike, Dunlop, 1:25.25 12. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R1000), Superstock, Dunlop, 1:25.26 13. Jake Holden (Hon CBR1000RR), Superstock, Dunlop, 1:25.5 14. Roger Hayden (Kaw ZX-10R), Superbike, Dunlop, 1:25.7 15. Matt Lynn (Hon CBR1000RR), Superbike, Dunlop, 1:25.8 16. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R1000), Superstock, Pirelli, 1:25.9 17. Chaz Davies (Kaw ZX-6R), Formula Xtreme, Pirelli, 1:26.13 18. Josh Hayes (Hon CBR600RR), Formula Xtreme, Dunlop, 1:26.4 19. Chaz Davies (Kaw ZX-6R), Supersport, Pirelli, 1:26.62 20. Ben Bostrom (Yam YZF-R6), Supersport, Dunlop, 1:26.66 21. Jake Zemke (Hon CBR600RR), Formula Xtreme, Dunlop, 1:26.7 22. Jake Zemke (Hon CBR600RR), Supersport, Dunlop, 1:26.8 23. Josh Herrin (Yam YZF-R6), Supersport, Dunlop, 1:27.0 24. Steve Rapp (Kaw ZX-6R), Supersport, Pirelli, 1:27.1 25. Roger Hayden (Kaw ZX-6R), Supersport, Dunlop, 1:27.4 26. Danny Eslick (Suz GSX-R600), Supersport, Dunlop, 1:27.6 27. Tommy Hayden (Suz GSX-R600), Supersport, Dunlop, 1:27.7 28. Shea Fouchek (Hon CBR600RR), Supersport, Dunlop, 1:27.9 29. Garrett Carter (Suz GSX-R600), Supersport, Dunlop, 1:28.5 30. Dominic Jones (Hon CBR600RR), Supersport, Dunlop, 1:29.1 31. Chris Siebenhaar (Suz GSX-R600), Supersport, Dunlop, 1:30.1