Aoki pleased with speed of '08 bike

The Suzuki test rider is competing on a prototype version of next year's GSV-R at Sepang this weekend, and he finished Friday's two practice sessions in 12th and 15th place.

While the 36-year-old says that there is plenty to improve on the bike over the weekend as he targets racing with his teammates on their 2007 machines, he was very impressed by the top speed of the new machine.

"Right now it is working pretty good, and the top speed is good," said Aoki. "The engineers have been working hard on the aerodynamics of the bike, so that helps.

"We still have space to improve tomorrow and to try and race with Chris (Vermeulen) and John (Hopkins) over the weekend which is our target."

Aoki, who has tested the 2008 bike extensively in Japan already, added that it was a good idea to bring the new Suzuki to a race prior to the winter break.

"We have brought the 2008 prototype here to get the chassis set-up for race conditions," he said.

"We have tested a lot in Japan, but that is nothing like setting it up at a race weekend. We need to get some good settings for tomorrow and see where we can go from there."