CycleOnline.com.au polled Team Honda’s Jamie Stauffer to get his thoughts on his start to the 2013 season. Stauffer is eager to bounce back from a tough start to his points campaign and the best place to do it will be his happy hunting-ground at Queensland Raceway.

Jamie Stauffer finished fourth overall at Symmons Plains. Image: Andrew Gosling/TBG Sport.

The World Superbike wildcard ride at Phillip Island…

Well I felt like we didn’t do too bad, well, we weren’t doing that bad until my crash in Superpole where I dislocated my knee. So up until that stage I felt like we’d done a pretty good job. I was fairly pleased with the effort of the team and the bike they gave me, but unfortunately our race results didn’t show that because I really struggled with my knee.

The opening point-scoring round of the Australian Superbike Championship at Symmons Plains…

I struggled there, I’m not sure why. We probably didn’t hit the nail on the head with a couple of things, it’s probably not one of my better tracks anyway, and the next track is, so we’ll just move onto that.

On having Josh Hook as a teammate…

Josh is going well. He’s only a young rider, and I think he’s got a lot of potential. He’s learning quick. He didn’t have the best start to the series, even though he did get two fifth places. That crash in the first race wasn’t the best start but I think he’s moving forward all the time. He should just get better as the year moves on.

Stauffer can be a genuine title contender under Paul Free’s factory Honda umbrella. Image: Andrew Gosling/TBG Sport.

On being the form man at Queensland Raceway…

Queensland Raceway has been good to me in the past so hopefully we can get up there and I’m fast. I can’t see why we wouldn’t be, why we weren’t fast at Tasmania I’m still unsure. The bike is pretty much the same as last year so I should be able to get on at Queensland and go as quick as what I did last year, at least, if not quicker. I’m looking forward to that and hopefully we can get a couple of wins. The continuity should serve us pretty well, as far as I’m concerned I’m there do to my own thing and go as quick as I can.

On who will be toughest to beat this year…

It’s hard to say. Obviously I don’t think it will be just one person. It’s going to be someone maybe at each round. Glenn clearly hit the ground running this year at Tasmania, but Wayne wasn’t far behind. I think those two mainly will be the toughest ones out there, but as you saw at the first round – Hooky, [Robbie] Bugden, Linden Magee and Chas Hern. They’re all going good’s going to be a few people up there this year.