Moments ago, Soup caught a few minutes with Ben Spies, who called in from the WSBK tests in Kyalami, South Africa.

When asked if he was surprised by his competitiveness, given how early the 2009 R1 is in its development cycle, Spies replied: "Honestly, if we were a second or a second and a half slower, I'd still be pretty happy. If the development was a 4 step program, I'd say we were clearly in the 1st step. This bike is going to change a lot before the green light goes off in Phillip Island. We haven't messed around with the chassis too much, I'm just getting used to it. I was fastest about half the day. I did like 85 laps or something. "

Asked how he was getting along with new teammate Tom Sykes, Spies said: "Things are really different with Tom, we eat all our meals together, we're spending a lot of time together. He's sick today so he didn't get to ride much, but for sure, it's different than what I'm used to. He's a really good guy and we're working together to make the bike the best it can be. "

Jet lag doesn't seem to have affected Ben too much. "I felt it this afternoon a bit, but I'm sleeping good, thankfully. The time difference is about 10 hours or something from America, so the Europeans might be feeling it a little less."

Spies is running WSBK Pirellis in competitive conditions for the first time in this test. "Honestly I was surprised at how good the Pirellis felt, the front end grip was awesome. It was like 90 degrees here, and they stuck really good. I've got no complaints at all about the tires."

Spies dismissed any praise over his impressive performance today. "I'm just going out there and doing my thing, doing what I do. The field is very deep here, there are a few guys that could win an AMA Superbike race for sure. I'm glad we're where we are at, but I'm not thinking about it too much. I've got a lot of work to do."

So, new team, new circuit, new bike, new tires, slight jet lag, and a soft motor spec = 2nd place for Spies.

Wow.