Team Honda Racing press release:

The Crankt Protein Honda Racing Team have wrapped up a challenging Round 3 of the 2016 Australian Superbike Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park, with both Troy Herfoss and Jamie Stauffer leaving the circuit safe and healthy.

With the weather tipped to be wet at Round 3 of the ASBK, the Crankt Protein Honda Racing team were prepared to take on the elements, and with Herfoss looking to maintain his championship lead, and Stauffer making his return after injury, the round was nothing short of eventful.

After qualifying in P4 on Saturday, Herfoss fought to chase down his competitors on the fast Sydney Motorsport Park circuit during race one yesterday, but to no avail. At the conclusion of the race, Herfoss crossed the line in fifth position. In race two, a scorcher of a start for Herfoss allowed him and his Honda CBR1000RR SP machine to move in to the race lead for a period of time in the wet conditions, however after dropping back to third, Herfoss ran wide in turn one with four laps remaining, and as a result ran out of time to make up valuable positions, and concluded race two in seventh. Herfoss now sits in third position in the overall Superbike championship, only eight points off the lead.

“It was a tough weekend for us – we all worked exceptionally hard but we fell a bit short pace wise, and although we made some good progression as the weekend went on, the outright pace just wasn’t there,” Herfoss shared.

“I’m thankful for the guys here at Crankt Protein Honda Racing because they put in a lot of effort. We tried a lot of things and it was quite frustrating for them, but we just couldn’t get those extra tenths of a second.

“I’ve been told that I’m only around seven or eight points off the championship lead, so it’s not dire straights and we’re still well and truly in the game. We’re going to work hard, and go to the next round in Perth making sure that we’re ready to race from lap one in practice.”

For Stuaffer, who made his return to the Australian Superbike Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park on the weekend, a sixth place in race one was an encouraging result, however it was in race two that Stauffer recorded his best finish for the weekend in the wet – capitalizing on other rider’s misfortunes, and putting in a consistent ride to conclude race two in fourth place.

“It was my first ride back since I injured my back, and it wasn’t a great weekend for me but I’m still not back at 100 per cent fitness yet,” Stauffer said.

“In saying that, it wasn’t a terrible weekend. I didn’t qualify the best but in race one I was fairly consistent the whole way through, and in race two it was wet, and we had our first go on the Pirelli wet weather tyres – The fourth place in that race I was pretty happy with.

“I can’t move around too much on the bike at the moment, but all in all we had a good weekend, and hopefully by next round I can come back and be fighting for some wins.”

The Crankt Protein Honda Racing Team will now begin preparations for Round 4 of the Australian Superbike Championship, being held at Barbagallo Raceway in Perth on June 3-5.

To stay up to date with all of the Crankt Protein Honda Racing Team news and results, head to www.teamhondaracing.com.au