Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Beth Wyse

The third and final day of AMA team testing at Road Atlanta saw Mat Mladin still at the top of the time sheets, although his time of 1:23.8 on the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 was not as quick as the 1:23.32 he set on Tuesday.

Yoshimura Suzuki hosted the test and invited all of the factory teams, as well as Austin Ducati and Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki, to participate. Honda decided to skip the third day so they could get a head start for Barber Motorsports Park, where many of the teams will test on Thursday.

Team Kawasaki ran only in the morning and left early in the afternoon.

With an hour and a half of open track time remaining, Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki was the only team still running. Steve Rapp was the iron man of the paddock, turning laps by himself on his Suzuki GSX-R1000 for 30 minutes until the track was shut down for the day.

Jamie Hacking was the fastest Supersport rider again, setting a fast time of 1:26.4 on his factory Yamaha YZF-R6.

Kawasaki’s Tommy Hayden concentrated on his 636cc Superstock Kawasaki ZX-6R. His best time was a 1:27.6.

Damon Buckmaster was the quickest Formula Xtreme rider Wednesday, and set the overall second-quickest time of the day with a 1:24.1 on his Graves Yamaha YZF-R1. Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies was close with a time of 1:24.2 on his Formula Xtreme Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Most riders turned slower times Wednesday afternoon due to higher temperatures and the resulting loss of grip on the track.


Thursday’s Unofficial Lap Times:

1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:23.8
2. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:24.1
3. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:24.2
4. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki ZX-7RR, 1:24.3
5. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:24.5
6. Aaron Yates, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:24.8
7. Anthony Gobert, Ducati 998, 1:25.0
8. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:25.1
9. Steve Rapp, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:25.27
10. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:26.4
11. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:27.6
12. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:27.9
13. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:28.0
14. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:28.0
15. Jamie Stauffer, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:28.3
16. Matt Furtek, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:28.7