Creating sprites causes hiccups

I've found that creating a sprite and adding it to the sceneGraph is really slow. Enough to cause the creation of even 10 or so to generate a noticeable hiccup on slightly older systems. (i.e. 1 GHz processors) I did some tests with this method:

function doStarFieldTest()
{
	$gMyTestStartTime = getRealTime();
	
	%newSprite = new t2dStaticSprite() 
	{ 
		scenegraph = gameSceneGraph; 	// NOTE: This name must be set in Torque's GUI editor!
//		class = Asteroid; 
		imageMap = "star2ImageMap";
		layer = $gAsteroidLayer;
		size = "0.3 0.3";
	}; 

	for (%n = 1; %n < 500; %n++)
	{
		
	/*	
		%newSprite = new t2dStaticSprite() 
		{ 
			scenegraph = gameSceneGraph; 	// NOTE: This name must be set in Torque's GUI editor!
			imageMap = "star2ImageMap";
			layer = $gAsteroidLayer;
			size = "0.3 0.3";
		}; 
	*/	
		
		%newSprite.setLinearVelocity( 0, 15 );
	
		
						// Set a random location
		%xLoc = GetRandomFloat(-70, 70);
		%yLoc = GetRandomFloat(-70p, 70);
		%newSprite.setPosition( %xLoc, %yLoc );
	}
	
	
	echo("  Time to create 50 stars: " @ (getRealTime() - $gMyTestStartTime));
}

I added key bindings to call this any time a key was pressed. In one version, I left it as-is, where only *one* sprite is created, but then the code above is called on it 500 times. This was a test to see if executing these lines of script 500 times was what was creating the noticeable slowdown.

In the second version, uncomment the "new t2dStaticSprite" code inside the loop, and change it to loop only *50* times, not 500. This version is *significantly* slower than the other. It creates noticeable lurches in the animation every time I push the key that invokes this function. This is on a 2 GHz dual-core Intel Mac. Only 50 sprites. Even far fewer sprites can create a noticeable lurch in the animation if created at once on a somewhat older computer. (As I mentioned before, even 10 is enough to see the delay.) That's just 5 bullets with glows attached to them. In a shooter, this is a common occurrence. You *need* to be able to create (and delete -- also slow) lots of sprites in a single frame of animation in some instances.

The problem is not script. The problem is "new t2dStaticSprite" -- something internal to the engine is quite slow for this. I have the engine source, and can make mods, but I don't even know where to start. What files should I be looking at to consider trying possible engine-level speed-ups?