Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Ben Spies, aboard his Formula Xtreme Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, is currently on top of the time charts halfway through the final day of team testing at Barber Motorsports Park.

As of 12:00 p.m. Thursday, the third day of a testing for the factory Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki and Kawasaki teams as well as for Austin Ducati and Erion Honda at Barber Motorsports Park, in Birmingham, Alabama, Spies and Ben Bostrom are atop the time charts with a 1:26.008 and 1:26.018, respectively. They are closely followed by Aaron Yates at a 1:26.074 and Mat Mladin with a 1:26.113.

Spies set his best time of the test so far Thursday morning on his FX bike–which is actually a works Superbike identical to those ridden by Mladin and Yates–while Bostrom, who also did his best time to date Thursday morning, was aboard his factory Honda RC51 Superbike.

Prior to this morning Mladin led the way with times in the 1:26.1 range, nearly half-a-second better than the next closest challenger, which was Yates at a 1:26.534.

Right on Spies’ heels in FX action is Damon Buckmaster on the Graves Yamaha YZF-R1 at a 1:26.030, set Wednesday afternoon. He is followed by Erion Honda CBR954RR pilot Jake Zemke with a 1:26.774, which he also did late Wednesday afternoon.

In 600cc Supersport action, Tommy Hayden has dominated the charts. Hayden and his Kawasaki ZX-6RR have been fastest throughout the test, with a best time of 1:28.360 set yesterday afternoon. Hayden is followed by a trio of factory Yamaha R6 riders, in the form of Jamie Hacking at a 1:28.450 set this morning, Damon Buckmaster at a 1:28.535 set yesterday afternoon, and Jason DiSalvo at a 1:28.851 also set yesterday afternoon.

Times continue to drop as the riders familiarize themselves with the track, and it’s almost certain a handful of Superbike and FX riders will be in the 1:25s by day’s end. It also looks like a good possibility that the top Supersport riders could be in the 1:27s.