Vermeulen takes pole in Assen deluge
Chris Vermeulen stormed through wet and windy weather conditions
at Assen today to give Rizla Suzuki MotoGP its first pole
position of the season.
 Vermeulen
(1’48.555, 25 laps) again showed his wet weather ability
as he posted the fastest time of this afternoon’s qualifying
session with over a quarter of it remaining. Fresh from his
third place in the wet at Donington last week, Vermeulen always
looked in control and comfortable on his GSV-R over the treacherous
4.5km Dutch circuit. During this morning’s dry practice
session Vermeulen made big improvements to the set-up of his
bike and looks in a better position now – than at the
same time yesterday - if tomorrow’s race is dry.
John Hopkins (P5, 1’49.684, 28 laps) was in a front
row position for a large part of this afternoon’s session,
only to see it snatched away from him right at the end. Hopkins
was disappointed not to be starting from the front row, as
his performance this afternoon certainly deserved it. He put
together a long run on the Bridgestone rain tyres during the
qualifying session and his times improved consistently throughout.
Hopkins will start from the middle of the second row and is
sure to be in contention right from the off no matter what
the conditions.
Tomorrow’s 26-lap race is round nine of the MotoGP
World Championship and the action gets going at 14.00hrs local
time (12.00hrs GMT), when both riders will be looking for
glory come rain or shine.
Chris Vermeulen:
“I’m very happy to be in pole position and again
it’s another good result for Rizla Suzuki! It was a
strong performance by both of us and a shame that John missed
out on the front row right at the end. This was our first
wet session of the weekend and that made it pretty difficult
to get the bike set-up right, and also qualify, in just the
hour. The team did a great job and the bike felt really good.
It was easily capable of doing those lap-times in those conditions
– if not a bit quicker! In the dry this morning we made
a lot of improvements and I feel confident now in any weather!
We now have to wait and see what the weather does; it needs
to be wet or dry because if it is in between here it will
be awful!”
John Hopkins:
“The bike and the tyres were great in the wet today.
I was happy with the all-round performance, but I’m
disappointed to be just off the front row. The conditions
were pretty bad at the end and it didn’t really feel
safe to go any quicker than I had done, but a couple of guys
hung it out there and just managed to beat my time. Having
said that, the middle of the second row is a good place to
start and we made big steps with the dry set-up this morning.
This afternoon has also given me a lot of confidence and I
know that if it’s wet or dry I’ll be trying my
hardest to get the Rizla Suzuki on the podium again!”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“A superb qualifying result for Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
and magnificent performances by both of the riders. I feel
so bad for John in missing out on the front row. He put together
a 20-lap run in the early part of the session and got into
a great rhythm. He has increased his wet weather performances
massively over the last couple of races and deserved a better
result today.
“Everybody knows Chris’ wet weather riding ability
and he didn’t disappoint today! He rode within his capacity
but still did enough to take pole position. Thanks to everybody
at the Suzuki factory and to Bridgestone for producing a motorcycle
and tyre combination that is allowing the riders to show their
true abilities in all conditions!”
A-Style TT Assen Qualification Practice Classification:
1. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 1’48.555:
2. Casey Stoner (Ducati) +0.017: 3. Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki)
+1.024: 4. Marco Melandri (Honda) +1.124: 5. JOHN HOPKINS
(RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.129:
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