News 12 Jan 2022

Superbike shakedown begins next step for Stauffer

GTR MotoStars newcomer on stepping up to the premier class.

Image: Lee Popowski

After completing his first shakedown laps on a Superbike, Max Stauffer has detailed the experience as a moment he’ll ‘never forget’ ahead of the 2022 Australian Superbike Championship with the GTR MotoStars team.

Stauffer will graduate to the premier class this season onboard Yamaha YZF-R1 machinery, following in the footsteps of multiple national champion father Jamie and competing at the pinnacle of domestic competition.

However, Stauffer makes the step with his own pedigree of results, himself a Supersport class race winner and most recently finishing third in the 2021 Australian Supersport Championship.

With the 2022 season-opener fast approaching at Phillip Island, Stauffer had the opportunity to ride the Superbike at both Wakefield and, more recently, Sydney Motorsport Park.

“It’s something I’m never going to forget really, riding out of pit-lane having to short-shift the gears and I just pulled the throttle on, straight away it’s doing wheelies and carrying on,” Stauffer told CycleOnline.

“I’m like, ‘ah yeah, they weren’t wrong’… it is a lot faster than a 600, I’m thinking, ‘yeah right, this is going to be a lot of fun’.

“To adapt to the bike, it’s just learning and the whole team is learning – I think we are all adapting pretty well and hopefully soon we will be up the front and going fast.”

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