Two-time AMA Champ Mat Mladin was the pace-setter at the Dunlop tire test this week on the new GSX-R, and was routinely the fastest rider on race tires all three days of the test. 

"It's the quickest we've ever been around here on the Suzuki," said Mat Mladin. 
 

New teammate Jamie Hacking was not far behind Mladin on the time sheets, and both riders completed several hundred miles of testing on the Suzuki's.

Despite having brand new motorcycles and one missing rider due to injury, the Suzuki boys were very fast on their Superbikes. Mladin turned a 1:49.8 on race rubber early Wednesday, with Hacking cutting a 1:50.8 lap on Tuesday. 

Jamie unfortunately crashed late Wednesday in the infield and didn't continue testing, the only negative to his initial Superbike foray on the new GSX-R 750.

"Mat seems happy with the bike. Jamie was struggling a little bit with his," Kevin Schwantz told AMASuperbike.com. "The 600 is about where we thought it would be. We have to go back and do a little work with it."

Struggling with tuning issues, Hacking managed a 1:54.5 on Wednesday on his GSX-R600.

"I think all in all, we've got a couple of banged up riders, but it was a pretty good test, especially for a guy (Hacking) that's new to the team," the 1993 500cc World Champ elaborated. 

"New bikes are hard enough for someone that's been riding a certain brand for a long time, but for a guy that's new to the team and have to learn two new bikes is not easy."

Mladin is on form, but Schwantz says there could be more to come from the defending race winner. "It's funny, because if you talk to him, he says ‘I haven't been training, I'm just riding the thing around’. It seems like Daytona is a place that as soon as he comes in the racetrack, his head's down and he's getting on with business. Still, he's carrying a lot of momentum from the past couple of years."

Ends

Links:
Kevin Schwantz's web site

Unrelated Links
Can't find a gift for that special stock option geek who has everything? How about the fifty year old severed fingernails of an ex-motorcycle stunt rider turned freelance photographer?

Sawing off the exhaust system of your motorcycle will make it an "irreversable death trap".