Dan Stauffer returned to the top of an Australian domestic road race series for the first time in a number of years over the weekend at Eastern Creek, finishing on top at the opening round of the Australian FX Superbike Championship.

Stauffer debuted a Ducati 1198 S for DGS Ducati, winning on track but later being ruled out of the order after it was deemed the team was using an illegal ECU of sorts after misinterpreting the rules.

The Stauffer brothers, Dan and Jamie, are two of the most notable names in Australian motorcycle racing, and in this exclusive chat, he says his ambition to claim an ASBK title before his career is over is still as high as ever.

CycleOnline.com.au spoke to Stauffer after he finished his real world job on the Gold Coast this afternoon.

Dan Stauffer returned to Formula Xtreme last weekend aboard a privateer Ducati. Image: Keith Muir.

First of all, congratulations on a strong performance over the weekend – how did the DGS Ducati ride come about in the first place? It was only announced this month and you’re up front already!

Yeah, I was actually just content racing for Yamaha in New Zealand and that’s been really good over there. But I got a call from Michael Fraser and he said that he was looking to get back into racing. I sort of know Mick from a few years ago and so does my brother Jamie since we all are from the Newcastle area.

There was talk of coming back for the first round initially, and in all honesty it was really good. We turned up Friday morning, just went for it and ended up crossing the line first in two out of three races each day. It was pretty much a dream run for myself since it was my first ever time on a twin. We were really happy and probably far exceeded our expectations to be honest.

You seemed quick straight away, but had you tested the bike before considering the deal came together so late?

Nah, I’d never ridden a Ducati in my life, or a twin – not even on the road, really. They’re very different to a four-cylinder motorcycle and are all torque. The first time I rode out of pit lane I hit the rev limiter.

We were probably a little bit down on top speed compared to some of the other bikes out there, but it’s amazing how it all averages out. We took a little while to get going on Friday, but we were able to come out on Saturday and get some good results before we continued that on Sunday.

Last time we saw Dan Stauffer race at a national level in Australia was last season in ASBK aboard an Aprilia.

You were initially scored as the winner and then it was announced that you wouldn’t be keeping them, but were you surprised that you were able to come out so strong straight away?

Ah, look, we are just really happy. Unfortunately I think we were excluded from the last race – I don’t know what’s going on with the rest of them – but rules are rules and it seems we breached them. It certainly wasn’t on purpose or through chasing any advantage over the field, and we aren’t too worried about it all.

I’m just riding to keep current at the moment and I feel like I’m actually on top of my game at the moment from the results and racing a lot in New Zealand. I’ve been having a lot of fun and really going well, so for me it was about pushing myself as hard as I could go – I’ve been training very hard.

While it’s obviously disappointing, we didn’t know what to expect anyway. It was probably more disappointing for the team because I think they feel like they let themselves down by a simple mistake. It was a simple misinterpretation of the rules, and rules are obviously there for a reason. That’s life and it won’t happen again. I’m not too disappointed, we go racing to have some fun and that’s what it’s all about.

Just finally, you’ve been having a lot of success in New Zealand and now aboard the Ducati in FX, do you still have the ambition of returning to ASBK and winning an Australian Superbike title?

Absolutely. I think that any rider believes they can beat anyone at anytime, on any bike. I’ve had a few hard years on bikes that we couldn’t quite get to work – it wasn’t that they were bad bikes, everyone else’s were just so good.

The year on the Aprilia was a lot of fun and the team was really good, so we learnt a lot developing it to the stage that it’s at today. I needed to do something else though, I just couldn’t continue along those lines for too much longer.

I definitely want to get back to the top of the sport, which is ASBK, and I can only really do what I’m doing. I just need to keep gaining race miles, being competitive and winning races, which I’m managing to do. We’re still striving towards that goal.