Team Yoshimura Suzuki will begin a two-day test at California Speedway in Fontana, Calif., today. Newly crowned AMA Superstock Champion Aaron Yates and AMA Superbike frontrunner Ben Spies will be putting the first of many miles on their 2006 GSX-R models at the 21-turn, 2.36-mile circuit. “We have a basic plan of attack and then we’ll play it day by day and see how it goes,” said Yoshimura Suzuki Team Manager Don Sakakura. “We’ve got three engineers from the factory and the Showa engineer and we’re going full-steam ahead.” According to Sakakura, Yates will spend most of the two days riding his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike. He explained, “We’ve got some test items from Japan, some revisions of components that we had some problems with last year. Some improvements, for both engine and chassis. As for the GSX-R1000 Superstock bike, Aaron will ride some but that will be mainly just suspension testing.” Although Spies will also ride his GSX-R1000 Superbike, the young phenom will spend much of the two-day test becoming acquainted with his 2006 Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R600. “Ben will be riding the new GSX-R600 so that we can get his initial impressions,” said Sakakura. “This way we’ll have a better idea of the direction we want to go in as far as settings for the chassis and engine.” Current AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin had hoped to test at Fontana, but he’s still in Australia recovering from surgery on his ankle. Said Sakakura, “It’s really unfortunate that Mat can’t be here because we have a lot to get through and it would be helpful to have a rider who could focus totally on Superbike for two full days. But he’ll be back in December for the Daytona test.” Team Yoshimura Suzuki will test Nov. 15-16 at the Fontana facility and then again toward the end of the month. After that, the Yoshimura Suzuki crew will travel to Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., to test Dec. 10-12.