Crankt Protein Honda Racing Team taking positives away from Round 4 of ASBK
It was a frustrating round of the Australian Superbike Championship for the Crankt Protein Honda Racing Team at Barbagallo Raceway, with both riders Troy Herfoss and Jamie Stauffer showing impressive form, however missing out on the overall podium in Western Australia over the weekend.
Despite some challenges across the three-day event, Herfoss was fast throughout practice and qualifying at Barbagallo, and when racing kicked off, Herfoss holeshoted both races, and then steered his CBR1000RRSP Honda machine to 4th and 5th placed finishes, concluding the round in 5th overall. Stauffer, who got to a slower start at Barbagallo Raceway, took 9th in race one and 8th in race two, handing the team 8th overall.
Herfoss shared that despite the weekend’s challenges, he achieved personal goals at Round 4, and is looking ahead to Morgan Park already.
“It was a big weekend for us again – it was a bit of a hard weekend. I’ve been competitive over the last two or three years where I’ve been able to go to every track and say ‘We’re could win this weekend’, but I felt as though I had to adjust my goals a bit in WA,” Herfoss shared.
“I approached round four as ‘how close can I get to the leaders?’ Because every session we just seemed to be losing time which is hard to accept. The goal for me was to have a time within three or four tenths of a second a lap of the leaders, and we did that.
“I was fourth in the first race, and not far off the podium, and in race two I didn’t make a mistake – I rode my best but we just weren’t able to quite match the front guys.
“I got the best out of myself on the weekend, and I can honestly say I made very little mistakes, so I’m looking forward to moving on to Morgan Park – they tell us it’s a Honda track!”
Stauffer, who is still recovering from a back injury sustained ahead of Round 2 of the ASBK, shared that with every race, he’s getting more and more confidence back.
“I felt a lot better on Sunday than what I did on Saturday – I sort of struggled all weekend and I didn’t qualify in the best position,” Stauffer explained.
“Once racing kicked off though, it was the best thing that could have happened to me – I felt a lot better and I think it’s just about getting my confidence up after coming off my injury.
“I’ve had plenty of injuries to deal with across my career but this one has been the most challenging. We know what we need to work on ahead of Morgan Park, so we’ll just focus on the next round and go from there.”
The Crankt Protein Honda Racing Team’s next outing will be at Round 5 of the 2016 Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul Pirelli at Morgan Park, August 5-7.
For more information on the ASBK Championship head to www.asbk.com.au.
To keep up to date with all of Crankt Protein Honda Racing Team news, results, and features, like the ‘Team Honda Racing’ Facebook page, follow @teamhondaracing on Instagram, or head to www.teamhondaracing.com.au.
