Herfoss open to offers for 2024
We spoke to Troy Herfoss today about various subjects and one of those is his decision to end his long partnership with Penrite Honda after the season finale at The Bend next weekend.
Troy Herfoss Interview
In the lead up to Phillip Island you had been somewhat dominant, winning six of the previous seven races, but last time out at Phillip Island a couple of false neutrals dented your progress, however your late race pace there while recovering from one of those false neutrals was very strong. Still, even before that race, I have got to say you were wound up pretty tight that weekend, did something happen that weekend, something that made you come to this decision to split with the team?
Herf – “No it has nothing to do with it, the reason I am leaving has nothing to do with how this year has gone at all. I am just at a time in my life that I want to try something different. After last year I sort of had this feeling to do something different, but I had something to prove to myself, and the team, and everyone, that I can still go around a track fast, and still be competitive. I feel as though right now, if there is nothing that motivates me to continue, I do feel I have done what I set out to do in Australian racing, I feel like this year I have proved to myself that I can still be competitive after the injury, and I am just motivated to see what life away from racing for Honda is like.”
You head to The Bend equal on points with Josh Waters in what will be a final winner takes all showdown. With only 51-points still available, including the single point for pole position, no other rider can win the championship other than you and Josh. I heard that during recent tests at The Bend you were very quick, setting a pace that nobody else there got near… With that in mind it seems a funny time to announce that you will be leaving the team…
Herf – “It is, that is why it might look as something going on, but I have always wanted this to be the case. I didn’t want a crash to happen, and COVID to hit and all that kind of stuff. I would have been so unhappy last year to finish off with the results I was getting, so that is why I made a promise at the end of the year, not call it a day, but at least explore what else might be out there, while I am still at the level I am at.”
Have you talked to anybody else about potentially riding for them next year?
Herf – “At this stage no, I don’t know what I am doing next year, I have no idea. I just know I am riding better than I ever have and I want to see how I would go out of my comfort zone… I have only spoken to my team, friends and family so far about what my ideas are.”
Can you enlighten us about those ideas, care to expand?
Herf – “I just want to see what will happen if I am available to ride anything and everything, whether it is in this country, outside this country. I feel like I am at the absolute top of my game again I feel fit and hungry, I just want to see what is out there really. It might be nothing, and you know what, I have come to terms with the fact that there might be nothing for me out there. Maybe people think it is my time to bow out, and I am at a stage now if that was the case, especially if I was to win another championship, I could be okay with that. It wouldn’t be ideal, but I could be okay with that...”
So if nothing comes up next year you could be riding an excavator, and be happy doing it perhaps…?
Herf – “One day I will definitely be in an excavator, it just might even be next year. That is what I did as a kid, that is what my dad did, and that is what his dad done, and that is what I want to do. And we all know that you don’t retire from from Australian Superbike racing to lay on the beach on the Gold Coast. Being in an excavator might happen a year or two sooner than I thought, but let’s just see what happens really…“
