First, I'm not sure that processing speed would really correlate with multiplication tables.
Second, I really believe that memorizing math facts isn't that easy for some people- gifted or not. DH (who is HG+) admits that he still does not have most of his math facts memorized. I've got mine cold, but I also have synesthesia with numbers which I believe helped me.
DS8 has worked math facts for two years now and still does not have them. He gets them excellently for the short term (WM 141 probably helps...) and can breeze through a test that he's prepped for. But within a week those facts are gone. My plan is to keep him working on them in fun ways (timez attack, etc...) but to keep the pressure low and realize that it's not the end of the world if he continues to mentally calculate versus using pure recall.
