Max Stauffer joins Yamaha Racing Team for 2025 ASBK

Yamaha Racing Team (YRT) have confirmed their rider lineup for this year’s mi-bike motorcycle insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul. The experienced, multiple championship-winning Mike Jones returns, while 20-year-old Max Stauffer is the new arrival, coming across from Penrite Racing Yamaha to replace Cru Halliday in the factory team. YRT believe this combination of youth and experience will help them go one better in the championship in 2025.

Jones finished runner-up in last year’s ASBK Championship behind Josh Waters (McMartin Racing Ducati) and Stauffer was fourth, while Halliday finished eighth after missing the last two rounds with injury.

Stauffer joined ASBK in 2022 and had his breakout season last year, achieving several podiums on his way to fourth in the championship. With the support of the in-house Yamaha team, the son of two-time ASBK Champion Jamie Stauffer expects the steep learning curve to continue, but believes this year’s ASBK season will be his best yet.
“Getting the phone call from John Redding offering me the YRT ride was one of the best calls I have ever had,” Stauffer beamed. “It’s been a goal of mine to ride for YRT, and now I’ve been able to make that happen, I plan on making the most of the chance I have been given.

“Mike and Cru have showed the [YZF-R1M] is clearly capable of winning at every track and the team has the knowledge and experience to help me become a better rider. I can’t wait to get to work with the team and start the next phase of my career.
“Thank you to all the people who have helped me get to this point and the years of hard work my family have put in. This is what we have all worked so hard for and now that I’m in this position, I won’t let anyone down.”

While Stauffer will be on the factory Yamaha for the first time this year, the 2025 ASBK season will be Jones’s fourth in Yamaha blue. A champion on Kawasaki and Ducati machinery before joining YRT in 2022, Jones won the championship in his first year on the factory YZF-R1 and has been a model of consistency and professionalism since, both on and off the track.
Coming so close to victory in 2024 is what’s motivating Jones this year, with the 30-year-old Queenslander eager to continue his successful association with the team.

“My relationship with Yamaha and YRT has been very successful and one that we both wanted to continue,” Jones explained. “In the three years with the team, we have finished first, fifth and second in the ASBK Championship and we're focused on winning another one.

“YRT are a dedicated and professional team who I enjoy working with and I genuinely love the feeling of racing the R1M.

“I’m also really excited to be teammates with Max next year. He is an exciting young talent, and we get along well off the track, too. I think his youthful enthusiasm will be an added boost for us all and I look forward to another fun and successful racing season.”

The 2025 ASBK season gets underway at Phillip Island on 21-23 February, supporting the opening round of the World Superbike Championship. For further details, go to: asbk.com.au