The IOP16 runs at 8 of 50 MHz clocks per instruction. That is 6.25 MIPS which really is way more than fast enough for this use. The states are Grey Coded as follows:

Most of the cycles do nothing. There is no good reason this can't run twice as fast. The Grey Codes are:

Made the change and it worked. It now runs at 12.5 MIPS. Way overkill, but why not.