Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies, 19, has resumed his physical training program and expects to be fully fit and ready for track testing before the end of January, following a 10-week recovery from serious skin abrasions and skin graft surgery.

“I’ve been in the gym for about a week now,” Spies told Roadracingworld.com Tuesday. “I’m already doing the same stuff I was doing before the accident, running 45 minutes. I lost some strength, but I’m doing stuff to get that back. I’m about a month away from being where I was.”

Spies suffered his injuries when the rear Dunlop on his Suzuki GSX-R1000 exploded as he passed the start/finish line at Daytona International Speedway at a radar-measured 186 mph during private tire testing in mid-October.

The 2003 AMA Formula Xtreme Champion suffered serious skin abrasions to his left arm, shoulder and buttock during his long slide on the Daytona pavement. He also hit the Speedway’s outer retaining wall with a glancing blow.

Spies’ left arm received a skin graft at a private hospital in the Dallas, Texas area soon after the accident. Since that time, Spies has been resting at his home in Longview, Texas, constantly cleaning and re-dressing his wounds to prevent infection.

Spies said he expected to test his Superstock GSX-R1000 and Supersport GSX-R600 somewhere in the United States, probably Laguna Seca, before the end of January, while his teammates, Mat Mladin and Aaron Yates, will take their GSX-R1000 Superbikes to the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia for four days of testing.

Spies said he definitely would not attend the additional tire test at Daytona, scheduled for January 25-26.