for best top end/over-rev past max hp rpms, its best to have the plug fire, when the piston is as close to TDC as possible. advancing the timing, puts heat into the piston, where as retarded timing puts heat into the pipe. as mentioned earlier, too much timing w/too low of fuel octane, can get you into detonation city quickly. i played w/+4 timing on my shee and did notice a stronger midrange and bottom end, but my top end was considerably down. maybe i was getting some deto on top?? IMO the best thing to have the best of both worlds, meaning top end and bottom end, would be to have a programmable ignition from dynatek. then program a curve for like +4 bottom, +2 mid, and 0 at top end. this way you should have a strong bottom, strong midrange, and a strong top end, that will want to over-rev past max hp revs. i'm sure others will give a different opinion on this.
i know on snowmobiles for drag racing, the more you advance the timing, the higher octane fuel you need to run and the shorter the distance the motor will survive wide open. for example a +4 timing key on a sled, might be good for a 660ft run, while a +2 key would be fine for a 1000ft run. i believe this is due to the extra heat created on the advanced spark. more advance = more heat, and we all know heat is a huge enemy of our precious 2-srokes.