Honda's Kurtis Roberts had a bit of a slow start to his Daytona tire test, but he managed a lap at 1:50.849 on Tuesday morning.

"Yesterday we didn't do to many laps," he said of his Monday session. "We tried some things that weren't working and I had no confidence in the thing. Now we are trying some other things that are a lot different than what we tried last year and it's a lot better."

Danny Hull, a mechanic who helped Kurtis win three AMA championships, has rejoined Kurtis's crew, led by former racer Dave McGrath.

One thing slowing down Kurtis is a touch of bronchitis. He is still looking forward to trying the 2002 RC51, however. "Nicky seems to like it quite a bit better and I'm looking forward to giving it a shot," claimed Kurtis.

Will Kurtis miss the 600 Supersport class? "Not one bit," smiled Kurtis. "I'm really happy to be concentrating on just one bike. Superbike is where you need to be. 600 Supersport is a great class but it's gotten away from what it needs to be. It needs to be for guys that don't have Superbike rides instead of guys that ride in both classes. It needs to be for giving opportunities for younger guys."

Earlier this fall. Kurtis went to Malaysia to race his dad's Proton three-cylinder GP bike. "We only had one hour in the dry, but we were only about a second off of Jurgen (van den Goorbergh, the team's regular rider), who had tested a few days there and had more track time. The team had no idea how to set the bike up for me and said they had never seen anyone ride like I do. So in the rain, we just tried some settings and we knew they probably wouldn't work." Kurtis said the telemetry readings showed the bike just slipped away in the wet. "

"I just wanted to ride a two-stroke 500," he explained. "I met some people and had some fun."