Copyright 2005, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Five-time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin was the quickest rider Monday morning at the start of a three-day AMA team test at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Riding his 2005 Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike, Mladin turned a 1:45.994 on the revised and shortened (from 3.56 miles to 2.95 miles) infield road course.

Asked what he thought of the revised course, Mladin told Roadracingworld.com, “I think it’s good because it gets rid of that one (west) banking over there. A few of the (new infield) turns are reasonably tight. My only real complaint about the new course is that last turn coming onto the back straight; it fires you straight at the wall.”

Mladin arrived at the test looking very fit and reported that he was approximately 12-14 pounds lighter than he was at the end of the 2004 race season. The intense Australian said he is on his way to a target weight in the high-160-pound range, the lightest he’s been in years.

Although the track was ready for action before 10:00 a.m. local time, few riders made laps Monday morning. Some Dunlop-supported riders said they were unable to go out on track Monday morning due to delays with their tires being mounted, and a brief rain shower at 11:45 a.m. forced everyone to take an early lunch break.

Teams present at the test include: Yoshimura Suzuki with Mladin, Aaron Yates and Ben Spies; Team M4 EMGO Suzuki with Vincent Haskovec and Geoff May; Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki with Jason Pridmore, Steve Rapp and Montez Stewart; Yamaha/Graves Yamaha with Aaron Gobert, Damon Buckmaster and Jason DiSalvo; Kawasaki with Tommy Hayden and Roger Lee Hayden; Attack Kawasaki with Josh Hayes and Ben Attard; Ducati Austin with Eric Bostrom and Neil Hodgson; American Honda with Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke; Erion Honda with Alex Gobert; Hal’s Performance Advantage Buell with Mike Ciccotto and Dan Bilansky; Team Embry’s Matt Lynn and privateers Taylor Knapp and Michael Barnes.

Yamaha/Graves Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking is not at Daytona due to complications with his still-broken collarbone, suffered in a crash in the middle of the 2004 season. Hacking is expected to have surgery at the hands of Dr. Arthur Ting this week to re-plate the collarbone, according to his team. Hacking should be ready to test in February.

Team M4 EMGO Suzuki, Hal’s Performance Advantage Buell, Lynn, Knapp and Barnes are riding on Pirelli tires. The rest of the riders present are using Dunlop rubber.

There were no Michelin representatives or Michelin-equipped riders at Daytona Monday morning.

Monday Morning’s Best Lap Times (as supplied by AMA Pro Racing):

1. Mat Mladin, Suz GSX-R1000 Superbike, 1:45.994
2. Miguel Duhamel, Hon CBR600RR Formula Xtreme, 1:49.674
3. Aaron Gobert, Yam YZF-R1 Superstock, 1:51.331
4. Damon Buckmaster, Yam YZF-R6 Supersport, 1:52.793
5. Jason DiSalvo, Yam YZF-R1 Superstock, 1:53.691
6. Mike Ciccotto, Buell XB12R Formula Xtreme, 1:54.603
7. Ben Spies, Suz GSX-R600 Supersport, 1:54.870
8. Alex Gobert, Hon CBR600RR Formula Xtreme, 1:57.552
9. Dan Bilansky, Buell XB12R Formula Xtreme, 1:57.863
10. Taylor Knapp, Yam YZF-R6 Supersport, 2:00.825