Please click the icon to the left to see Brad do a couple hot laps at Fontana on the 2009 GSX-R1000

There have been a handful of new sportbike models making headlines this year, especially in the liter-bike class. With the new Yamaha R1, Aprilia  RSV4 and the introduction of BMW to the class it has been a good year for displacement junkies. One bike that has slipped under the radar slightly however is the all-new 2009 GSX-R1000. Suzuki was a little late in releasing the new GSX-R for racing in America and getting it homologated and as a result the Yoshimura boys didn't even start racing the new model until the Barber, Alabama round in May which Mat Mladin promptly went out and won convincingly.

While it may not have been stealing all of the media attention, I was excited to throw a leg over the new GSX-R that was quietly wrapping up the American Superbike class here in America in its rookie year. After all, this was the first truly all-new GSXR in eight years. Was this just more of Mladin working his magic or was the new GSX-R such a special motorcycle that it could win the championship in what is supposed to be its development year? The first order of business would be to head to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California to find out just how good the new GSX-R performs on the track.

The selectable mapping system’s switch has been relocated, from the right clip-on switch to a new location on the left switch gear, to make it much easier to operate while riding. No longer is the rider forced to reposition his/her throttle hand to switch the mode.

Once accustomed to the controls it was time to fire off some laps in anger at Auto Club Speedway. Auto Club Speedway is an infield circuit that incorporates part of the Nascar oval and is mostly a point and shoot track. There are plenty of hard braking areas and flat corners that force you to stand the bike up quick and drive out of the corner. There is also a quick transition area when coming down off the banking that rewards a bike that can flick quickly while staying stable. Overall it is a good facility to gauge a sportbike's performance and one that I have put hundreds of laps down while on various different bikes.

Suzuki is only claiming a 3 horsepower increase from the 2008 model so I wasn't looking for the GSX-R to have more power; I was more interested in the Suzuki's demeanor while putting the power down to the track. The big change on the GSX-R power plant is the increase in bore by 1.1 mm to 74.5 and the stroke decreased 1.7mm to 57.3mm. This produces a shorter stroke motor which can spin up at the higher rev range and make more power up top, all the way to the rev limit of 13,750. The trade off is a slighter softer pull from the bottom (which is not necessarily a bad thing) making it much easier to manage off the corner. The valves now have a larger diameter thanks to the bigger bore of the motor and compression ratio has been increased from 12.5 to 12.8:1. Shorter (44mm) SDTV dual butterfly throttle bodies are used with dual 12-hole injectors and a new lighter airbox. The new engine has a host of other refinements creating a motor that is both lighter and more compact.