Johan Stigefelt admits he is surprised his Stiggy Honda team has already won four podiums in its maiden season of World Superbike Championship racing.

The former rider-turned-manager had previously plied his trade in the World Supersport Championship before graduating to Superbikes, but while rider changes and injury problems have plagued their rookie season, lead rider Leon Haslam has quickly established Stiggy as regular front runners.

Scoring a podium in their first weekend at Phillip Island, two further rostrum finishes followed at Assen before Haslam recorded arguably the best result of his career at with a second place on home soil at Donington Park.

With the Swedish Stiggy team having no equivalent home round for themselves, Haslam's performance was met with delight from Stigefelt.

“I am very, very happy, especially for Leon,” he told Crash.net Radio. “The team has done a great job and we've worked hard, so to get a podium here is a dream for Leon and the team. We are new and we are learning all the time.”

Touching upon the season so far, Stigefelt reveals his initial plans were to finish on the podium at least once in 2009, so to get four in just nine rounds has exceeded his expectations.

“The aim for this year was to get a podium and be inside the top ten regularly, so to have four podiums already is great. I really didn't expect it. I knew the potential of Leon and the guys in the team, but it is proving to be even better than I thought.”