With a stellar results record, many would have expected Team Honda Racing’s Jamie Stauffer to be challenging for wins at Queensland Raceway. Unfortunately, a testing crash at the circuit prior to the round left the two-time champion with a number of painful injuries which prevented him from making the progress he had hoped for.

CycleOnline caught up with Jamie to find out a bit more about his injuries and the recovery progress, and also about the recent announcement that he would return to the Suzuka 8 Hour alongside Superbike rookie teammate Josh Hook.

Jamie Stauffer started the Ipswich races from the second row of the grid. Image: Andrew Gosling/TBG Sport.

Jamie, it was obviously a tough round for you at Queensland as you went in there suffering from those testing injuries. How did you fare overall?

Yeah it was disappointing. We’d obviously done a huge amount of testing and were looking good but it wasn’t to be. Obviously I struggled with the injuries. My result was still no good, and I really needed this to be the round where I clawed back some points on the guys in front of me but that’s the way it goes. Things happen out of your control. I will just have to try hard to be better for the next one.

Has there been any further progress made with treating the injuries?

I did a lot with RACESAFE at the round which helped. And since then I’ve had this time to see some more doctors and get some more treatment. I’ve just left the doctor again today for more MRI scans and I’m really still trying to sort it out and get on top of it. It was painful then but it’s definitely still very painful now with the pelvis and various other things.

The Sydney Motorsport Park ASBK test followed soon after the Queensland event. Did you feel like you were able to take much from the test given your condition?

It was quite uncomfortable riding at Eastern Creek as well as it was really only a few days later. The track has a lot more left-hand corners and for some reason it seems as though these are much harder for me. We got a bit of information, which is what we were after, but we didn’t set the world on fire time-wise. We’re there or thereabouts. It was good just to be able to have a ride there. It’s a track I like and probably the best one we’ve got.

Stauffer forged on to score solid points but was clearly feeling the effects of his testing injury. Image: Andrew Gosling/TBG Sport.

Honda made the announcement late last week that yourself and Josh Hook would be teaming up for a shot at the Suzuka 8 Hour. You’re an experienced hand there; how do you feel Josh will go?

I think he’ll do well. It’s a hard race and the level of competition is very high, the highest there is, but I think we’ll go alright. He seems to be adapting very well to everything on the Superbike, that should carry over pretty well. It’s probably not an ideal time for me to be going over there but I committed to it before getting injured and I’m going to stick with it. We’ll get a test in beforehand and hopefully, with the help of my physio and doctors, I’ll be over my injuries by the time it all comes around.

You’re back on board the Honda Dream Sakurai team which you have ridden with at Suzuka in the past few years. Is it good to have that sense of continuity there knowing you can probably slot back in where you left off?

Yeah I’ve ridden for the team a few times now, it will be good to go back over there as I know all the guys. I’m not sure what spec the bike is this year, whether it’s higher or not, but I’ll be pretty familiar with it all this time around. It will be what it will be. We’ll go out there and do the best we can.

Best of luck with the recovery, Jamie.