The 12-turn, 2.22-mile road course at Infineon Raceway remains as it was raced on in 2004, with the exception of a few modifications for safety. Light poles located on rider’s right at the exit of the Carousel, turn six, have been moved approximately 40 feet further away from the racing surface and up a slope. More pavement has been added on rider’s right at the exit of the chicane, but it was not known at post time if this pavement is actually used by riders. Finally, a paved escape road has been added at the turn nine chicane on the motorcycle-only course. A chicane formed with tire walls prevents riders from running through the escape road at speed and gaining an advantage or hitting riders exiting the chicane. Five-time and defending AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin is recovering from a cold-like illness. “I shouldn’t have been kissing on Neil (Hodgson) after Fontana,” Mladin joked with Roadracingworld.com Thursday in the paddock. “I’m gonna be 100% tomorrow by 12 o’clock (the scheduled start time of the first AMA Superbike practice. No excuses” American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke tested at California Speedway shortly after the AMA race event there, and according to one team member, significant progress was made to the steering and the rear traction of their CBR1000RR Superbikes. Whether those chassis changes will be useful at Infineon Raceway, a completely different style of racetrack than California Speedway, remains to be determined. Duhamel has won five AMA Superbike races at Infineon Raceway. Mladin has won four. Yates, the only other previous winner in the field, won the 1996 AMA Superbike race at what was then known as Sears Point Raceway. The deal that gives computer chip manufacturer Infineon naming rights at Sears Point is a 10-year deal that will continue through the 2011 season. The weather forecast for the Sonoma, California area calls for mild temperatures and no chance of rain during the race weekend. This is significant because AMA Pro Racing does not race at Infineon Raceway in the rain. Texas teen Shea Fouchek is making his AMA debut this weekend on the Safety First Racing team. Fouchek only started racing as an Amateur with the CMRA late in 2004, started the 2005 season as an Amateur, moved up to Expert for one CMRA weekend and, with considerable effort by his team and supporters, was granted an AMA license to race in Formula Xtreme and Supersport this weekend at Infineon Raceway. Fouchek was 25th of 30 in the first Formula Xtreme practice Friday, 6.7 seconds behind pace-setter Jake Zemke. The racing schedule for Sunday has changed, again. Like the schedule at Barber Motorsports Park and unlike the schedule at California Speedway, Supersport will race before Superstock followed by Superbike on Sunday. This means that several riders, including Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates, will have to ride Superstock and Superbike back-to-back on the physically-demanding Infineon Raceway course. AMA Pro Racing Superbike Series Manager Ron Barrick told Roadracingworld.com that the daily race schedules are determined by the order that SPEED Channel wants to shoot/broadcast the races.