Image: Keith Muir.

A strategic Jamie Stauffer will start from pole position in Sunday’s second round of the Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship for Team Honda Racing.

The 35-year-old aborted any chance of victory in the FX-Superbike races today despite starting from pole position, enabling teammate Wayne Maxwell to sweep three race wins for the overall.

It was Stauffer however who claimed his second pole position of the weekend, setting a 1m07.083 lap on his way to 17th place in race three this afternoon.

Following Saturday’s proceedings the dual Australian Superbike Champion said his decision to forfeit results in a bid for the Swann Series pole position was a straightforward one, with it widely understood THR riders receive bonus money for Sunday only.

“Today’s not the series we’re here to win; we’re looking at tomorrow so we’re out there today to get the best qualifying and bike setting we can,” Stauffer explained.

“The way qualifying is set up is up to the promoter – I’m just using it to my advantage in what will help me win races tomorrow. As far as I’m concerned they can run it however they want.

“There seemed to be a lot of guys out there racing hard today for not a lot of gain. If I don’t win a race on Saturday all year it won’t bother me one bit.”

Stauffer set the pace in commanding fashion during race one until he thought he’d set a strong enough lap time, allowing Maxwell and Yamaha duo Robbie Bugden and Cru Halliday to race to the podium.

A sixth place finish in races one and two was the on-track result, but it was his pole-setting lap in race three that denied AFX-SBK round winner Maxwell the pole for Sunday.

“The time in that race was pretty good on old tyres towards the end there, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow,” he added. “We don’t need to race anyone on Saturday; it’s all about times.

“But I probably should have kept going in that first race today because my lap timer buggered up and displayed a faster time than what I’d done. I didn’t think anybody would beat that, but we obviously had to later.”

Swann Series title leader Stauffer ended Saturday ninth overall, now sixth in the AFX-SBK championship after two rounds.

Completing the front row on Sunday will be Maxwell ahead of the impressive Yamaha combination of Bugden and Halliday.