Image: Russell Colvin.

The recent Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island could be the last we see of Jamie Stauffer in Australian Superbike competition fulltime after Crankt Protein Honda Racing replaced him with Bryan Staring for 2017.

Stauffer starred in the MotoGP support races across the weekend, winning race two and finishing runner-up overall. That type of form is exactly why he wanted to go around for at least one more season in the ASBK.

However the 37-year-old is yet to finalise any formal support for next year in a bid to extend his career by entering his own privateer effort. It would be the first time in well over a decade that the 2006 and 2007 champion hasn’t held a factory seat, but he’s still in discussions with Honda to form part of its program in a part-time development-type position.

“Phillip Island definitely made me feel a lot better,” Stauffer said. “It’s one of those things, I was thinking before the GP that I didn’t really want to stop racing while I was going so bad, but I suppose when you’re going good you don’t want to stop either. The way I felt at Phillip Island, it felt like I could go out and win – I had the front-end feel I’ve been chasing all year.

“I mean, I still do want to race, but at the moment I don’t think I will be. At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter if I want to ride [laughs] – if there’s nothing there, I can’t ride. Now I’ve got to sort a few things out to see if I can do a few rounds here and there. I haven’t spoken with them in detail, but I think it could be an option on a Honda.

“I haven’t even really tried to put my own thing together, because the amount of money you need to do it properly, I figured just before Phillip Island that it’s going to be too hard to come up with the money. I can’t see anything happening there, so as far as doing the whole championship goes, I don’t think I’m doing it.”

Crankt Protein Honda Racing has signed Staring to partner newly-crowned ASBK champion Troy Herfoss for 2017, when he returns from a lengthy stint in Europe contesting a variety of categories. Staring captured his lone Australian Superbike title in 2010 prior to heading overseas.