Credentialed 600cc rider Mike Jones recently returned home early from his maiden World Superstock 600 campaign, released from the Racedays Honda team on amicable terms.

Just a few days after touching down, Jones was back on a bike and winning races on home soil as a surprise late entrant in the recent FX-Superbike round at Queensland Raceway.

We caught up with Mike to find out a little more about his change of plans for this season…

Mike Jones chases down Yamaha Racing Team rider Rick Olson. Image: Emily Avery.

We received the statement from your World Superstock 600 team, but wanted to get some thoughts from you. Is there anything else you can tell us about their decision to cut ties with a few rounds still to run?

It was pretty simple with what happened over there. The team just decided that they didn’t want to continue, and that was pretty much it. There wasn’t really that much more to it. They decided they weren’t going to finish the year with me. I just decided it was best to come back here and get my riding skills back up again.

You were back at a racetrack within 48 hours of landing in Australia, and put together a pretty solid weekend at the FX-Superbike round. What was it like to come back and jump back on a Yamaha again after a season aboard Honda?

It was really good to come back. It was my first opportunity to ride – I landed on Thursday and that weekend I went out to Queensland Raceway, which is my local track, and competed in the FX-600 class, riding Cal Spriggs’ spare Allsite Concrete Cutting bike. It was good to be back on home turf and around supportive family and friends, and fans. I really enjoyed riding Yamaha R6 again and was starting to feel quite comfortable by Sunday and was really happy to come away with the win.

Can you fill us in on your plans for the remainder of 2013?

For the remainder of the year what I’ve got planned at the moment is the Darwin round, and I’ll do MotoGP round. I’m not too sure, at this stage, how many more rounds of Supersport or FX I’ll do beyond that. But I want to try and do as much riding and as much racing as I can, so I’ll certainly be looking at everything.

Jones aboard his Racedays Honda ride at Assen earlier this year.

And will you be pursuing further international opportunities for 2014, or will you look locally once again?

It’s kind of difficult. It’s very tough over there, there’s so many reasons why. The biggest thing is money, that’s always the hardest thing. At the moment I’m just taking things one step at a time. At the end of this year I’ll consider my opportunities, whether they be racing here in Australia or overseas, and just work out what’s going to be best. Ultimately I want to race in a world championship. Like I said, it’s just a money thing. I’ll certainly be considering all options.

Without any real pressure on you back in Australia, you must be pretty keen to get a few wins on the board and build some sort of momentum towards 2014?

I want to treat the rest of the year as fun as much as anything. Its been a tough year, and to get back on the bike like I did at the FX round in Queensland was perfect because there was no pressure. Obviously I’m a competitor, and I’m a very competitive person, so I’ll push myself all the way, and I’ll be riding at 100 percent. Definitely if I can win races, then that can help me to boost my profile for next year.

Thanks for the chat, see you in Darwin!

Cheers, thanks for the opportunity.