2014 has been a season of highs and lows for experienced Superbike campaigner Jamie Stauffer, who led the Swann Series pointscore prior to the previous round. An injury saw him relinquish the lead to his teammate, but with plenty of recovery time behind him, he is confident that he can be back to his best at Wakefield Park this weekend. CycleOnline.com.au chats to Jamie about his injury and the season in general.

Image: Keith Muir.

Jamie, you had some major injury concerns heading into Winton, which made it a tough weekend in terms of retaining your points lead. How are you feeling ahead of Wakefield?

I’m feeling a lot better. The ankle’s 100 percent better compared to what it was at the last round. There’s still a lot of things I can’t do with it but I should be able to ride a bike. I’m really looking forward to getting back on the bike and having a good weekend. Hopefully we can catch up some of the points that we lost at Winton.

This is the series’ second visit to the circuit this year, and you were the overall round winner at the opener. Do you expect to be able to pick up where you left off last time?

It’s going to be hard, there’s no doubt. It will be interesting to see what times we are doing now compared to what we were doing there at the start of the year. We’ve just got to take it as it comes and try to get the bike consistent. It has been all year really, the Honda has been good, and has been strong everywhere. Hopefully we can get out there and get all the Hondas up there…with me at the front!

Aside from the actual switch of series for your team, how have you managed the various changes this year – bike, tyres, formats, and so on?

There’s not a great deal different, really. As far as the team has gone, that’s been great. All of us are getting along good and having fun which is important, that’s why we go racing. The series, well, it’s neither here nor there, I don’t think it’s any better or worse than what we’ve had before. It is what it is. Honda’s been lucky enough to be up on the podium at every round there, most times in the one, two, three places. My riding style hasn’t changed at all, it’s moreso the approach to riding the bike. With the control tyres that we’re running too there’s probably not as much grip as we’re used to. So we’ve got less power, but less grip too. But it’s all coming along.

On that same subject, the topic of parity has surfaced a few times this season. From what I can see you’ve not really entered into the discussion too much. How would you see it?

It is what it is. Whether I agree with the rules or not, it’s not up to me. I’m there to do a job. I just go out and do the best I can with what I’ve got. And really, Honda’s given us a fantastic bike with the CBR1000 SP, it has been a pleasure to ride, and a great bike. I think all four of us have clicked with it and that shows in the results.

Image: Keith Muir.

Qualifying has been another major talking point for the Swann Series. You’ve not shied away from the fact that you use the Saturday races purely to set fast laps in the chase for pole. Do you feel the system needs changing?

There’s been a bit of talk about that, I suppose, since Winton. I’ve done the same thing all year, and just used Saturday to get a good qualifying lap in, really. I’ve got no reason to go out and risk my neck in a race when it means nothing. Speaking to organisers earlier in the year, they hadn’t had a problem with it, but they seem to now, so we’ll see what happens this weekend, I suppose. I think it’s a bit unprofessional to change things during the year, but we’ll see how it goes.

Finally, a word on 2015. As has been reiterated lately, Honda’s plans are to return to the Australian Superbike Championship, run by Motorcycling Australia, at the finish of this Swann Series season. Do you know where you fit in the picture at this point?

It’s hard to say. As far as I know, Honda wants to run in the recognised championship with the FIM, so that’s not the championship we’re doing this year. I guess if there’s another championship they’ll do it, and they’ll pick what riders they want for it. Whether it’s me or not, I don’t really know. They’ve got to get the details and commit to a series, and from there choose the riders. If they want me to ride, all well and good, well if not… It’s a bit up in the air at the moment. Racing’s a bit like that at this time, there’s lots of questions to answer and not that many rides around. We’ll see how it comes together soon.