Troy Herfoss hoping to contest 2014 Swann Australasian Superbike Championship
By Trevor Hedge
Troy Herfoss is celebrating his 27th birthday today but the Goulburn resident has no time to savour the cake as he busily tries to pull together a team to contest the 2014 Swann Australasian Superbike Championship.
The 2010 Australian Supersport Champion, 2008 AMA Supermoto Champion and X-Games silver medallist is in negotiations with an as yet unnamed manufacturer to contest the Terry O’Neill run series and is confident that he will be able to take to the grid at the March 14-16 season opener in front of his home fans at Wakefield Park.
After finishing third in the 2011 Australian Superbike Championship, two-points behind second placed Jamie Stauffer, and two-points ahead of fourth placed Wayne Maxwell, and after already experiencing great success on American soil very early on his career, Herfoss’ sights turned to Europe.
A promising ride in the German based IDM Superbike Championship in 2012 brought some good results early in the season before an unamicable split with the RAC BMW Team owner in 2012 left Herfoss fairly disillusioned with road racing in general, and particularly the cheque book racing in Europe.
2013 saw Herfoss predominantly concentrate on his bicycle talents with plenty of road race appearances and also a successful sojourn into Endurance Mountain Bike racing with immediate success at a very high level. An unexpected win in the 7-Hour Male Solo Elite class at the Shimano Mountain Bike Grand Prix near Canberra last year undoubtedly proves that Herfoss remains fit and raring to go. He then topped that result by finishing in front of Olympian Daniel McConnell, in the new Mountain Bike sprint format, placing a close second to Paul van der Ploeg, who was crowned World Champion only a short few months later.
Herfoss’ determination and bike speed was also clearly evident at the recent Troy Bayliss Classic Dirt Track event held at Old Bar, Taree. Herfoss finished second in the final behind three-time Superbike World Champion Troy Bayliss, ahead of Australia’s fastest current crop of dirt trackers, road racers, and the high-profile visiting American duo Sammy Halbert and Henry Wiles.
“I would have loved to race last year if I had been able to slot in to a team,” said Herfoss to MCNews.com.au.
“While I was over in Europe I wanted to be there, but once I got home I wanted to stay in Australia, but it was too late in the day to get a competitive ride.
“Around MotoGP time last year I had a bit of a chance to perhaps ride a Team Honda machine, but that didn’t end up coming about.
“Since then my dad and I, along with Jason Kain, another Goulburn local with plenty of racing experience have been putting our heads together to try and come up with a plan to get on the FX grid. Jason has helped me a lot, he has been a privateer his whole life and knows how to go racing on a small budget.
“I have a bit of funding from around town, but of course the biggest hurdle is getting bikes.
“I hope to be on the track at Wakefield late this month if everything goes to plan.
“It probably helps that I am from Goulburn and there are two rounds in Goulburn thus I will have plenty of support behind me at the Wakefield Park rounds and hopefully a good result at the season opener can help snowball some more support and help along the way towards a successful season.
“My goals are probably a bit different to what they were, obviously I still want to win, but I enjoy racing at home and will be very happy to race in Australia.
“I plan to build my own team for the long term, and eventually even perhaps, depending on results and funding, of course, eventually bring on a younger rider into my team.”
MCNews.com.au certainly hopes Troy can fulfil his goals and get on the grid this year to help make the 2014 Swann Australasian Superbike grid the best line-up of domestic talent in this country for many, many years.
