News 26 Feb 2013

Team Honda Racing reflects on Phillip Island WSBK opener

A huge campaign for Team Honda Racing at the 2013 World Superbike event at Phillip Island is complete.

Jamie Stauffer made his WSBK debut at Phillip Island. Image: Keith Muir.

Jamie Stauffer made his WSBK debut at Phillip Island. Image: Keith Muir.

A huge campaign for Team Honda Racing at the 2013 World Superbike event at Phillip Island is complete and the Australian Honda team performed extremely well on the world stage.

With two riders entered as wildcards in the event the preparation was intense. Team Honda Racing rose to the challenge.

Jamie Stauffer competed under number 21 for the event and through qualifying the NSW rider recorded strong lap times, his fastest a 1:31.874 sec in the second qualifying session, which was the 11th fastest lap time and just 0.667 sec off the outright fastest lap time of the session.

Stauffer’s lap times secured the Honda rider a position in Superpole 1 which included only the top 15 riders from qualifying.

Unfortunately, Stauffer crashed on his second lap in Superpole session one. He recorded a lap time of 1:32.353 sec on his first flying lap which placed him in P14 on the grid for Sunday’s races.

Stauffer finished race one of World Superbikes in 15th place and race two in 13th place with his fastest lap time a 1:32.690 in race one.

It was a big learning curve, even for the experienced rider and Stauffer can be proud of his efforts, placing 16th overall for the event and scoring points in the World Superbike Championship against the best Superbike riders in the world.

“Overall we had a good weekend. At times we were quite fast in relation to the top World Superbike riders and we learned a lot about the bike over the weekend racing in this event,” Stauffer said. “Crashing in Superpole was not ideal as I think we could have recorded a pretty good time and hurting my knee certainly didn’t help in the race.

“From the first race to the second we made changes to the set-up to better accommodate the tyre and track surface and our overall race time was much better. All in all it was a fantastic experience and gives us valuable information going into the Australian Superbike Championship.

“I can’t wait to get on the CBR1000RR and start racing at the first round of the ASBK in Tasmania. The team have worked so hard not just in the lead up to the World Superbikes, but also during the event. I want to thank everyone including all of our team sponsors for their support in what has been a huge effort.”

The other Team Honda Racing wildcard competing this weekend in the World Supersport race was Josh Hook sporting the number 16 on his CBR600RR, the young Honda rider coped extremely well with the pressure of the world championship category to finish his race in 17th place.

Unfortunately, Hook suffered a crash in free practice on Friday and the team worked tirelessly to ensure he was race-ready on Sunday.

In the Sunday morning warm-up, Hook felt comfortable on his CBR600RR and come race time he held his own very well in the international field, moving up to 13th place by mid-race.

“This was my first World Supersport Championship race and it was an amazing experience to be riding against such experienced riders,” Hook said. “I learned so much from them and taking part in the event has definitely opened my eyes.

“On race day, we had the bike settings working well, I felt good in morning warm-up and obviously I would have liked to have placed better in the race, but to have raced against the best in the world and come 17th is really exciting. Huge thanks to Team Honda Racing who worked really hard over the last few months preparing a competitive motorcycle.

“I also must thank HRC for their invaluable support in building me an engine capable of competing in the World Supersport race. I am really looking forward to this year competing in the Australian Superbike Championship on board a Honda CBR1000RR.”

Team Honda Racing principle, Paul Free is proud of his team.

“When I came up with the idea some time ago to compete in the World Superbike and Supersport event and enter our riders as wildcards I had a couple of goals in mind,” Free explained. “One was to give the riders an amazing experience and a challenge by competing against the best WSB and WSS riders in the world, and the other was to put our team/sponsors and our supporters in front of a global audience.

“We certainly achieved both. I know myself and my techs learned a massive amount about our motorcycles and have a much deeper understanding of our Hondas. Additionally, Jamie and Josh have also learnt just how hard they need to push themselves to be competitive on an international level.

“Even as a multiple Australian Superbike champion, Jamie commented to me that riding with the world class riders has opened up his eyes and given him some new ideas on his race craft, particularly at Phillip Island which he put to good use over the weekend. Overall, huge thanks must go out to Honda and our sponsors for their support in assisting us to make this WSB experience happen.”

Team Honda Racing would like to extend their thanks to the team sponsors for their attendance and support at the event including AWS Vantage, BOQ Honda Finance, Western Freight Management, Honda Motorcycle Insurances, Monza and NGK.

Thanks also to Isle of Man winner, Cameron Donald for thrilling guests of Team Honda Racing on board the team’s CBR1000RR two-seater at the event.

Three very lucky guests from AWS and WFM were treated to the thrill of their lives on Sunday, completing a hot lap with Cameron.

The next event for Team Honda Racing will be the first round of the Australian Superbike Championship at Symmons Plains on 5-7 April.

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