Vermeulen splashes to superb third at Sachsenring
 Chris
Vermeulen raced his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R through the Sachsenring
rain to earn a well deserved podium in today’s German
Grand Prix.
Vermeulen started from 14th on the grid and not only had
to fight his way through the field, but was also hampered
by heavy rain and the spray from the bikes in front, making
visibility almost impossible. He made his way up to third
place and challenged Valentino Rossi for second place by lap
10. He couldn’t quite close the gap on Rossi and although
he came under heavy pressure towards the end of the race from
Alex de Angelis, Vermeulen showed tremendous skill in the
appalling conditions to bring his bike home on the podium
for the first time this season.
Loris Capirossi produced a fantastically brave display today,
competing not only with the conditions and the other riders
but also the injured right arm that he has been suffering
with all weekend. Starting from 13th, he made a solid first
few laps before getting up into seventh on lap eight. He then
got involved in a long battle with Randy de Puniet and was
relegated down to eighth, but he never gave up the chase and
overtook de Puniet on the very last corner to take seventh
position.
Today’s race was watched by over 98,000 people at trackside
who braved the rain to see Bridgestone dominate with the first
four riders and eight of the top-10, using the Japanese manufacturer’s
tyres. The race was won by reigning World Champion Casey Stoner,
with current championship leader Valentino Rossi second.
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP now makes a transatlantic trip to Laguna
Seca in America for round 11 of the season, next weekend on
Sunday 20th July.
Chris Vermeulen:
“I am very happy to be on the podium here in Germany.
It was a really difficult race, as there was a lot more water
than we had practised in on this circuit. I have got to give
full credit to Bridgestone as they pushed me to go for a much
harder compound than I wanted and it definitely worked. I
really want to thank my crew as well, and the Japanese Suzuki
staff, as we didn’t really have a lot of set-up in the
rain but the bike worked really well. It wasn’t perfect
but it was more than capable of getting me home, so I am really
pleased to have put it on the podium for them as well. Let’s
hope this is the start of a good run and now we are off to
a track I enjoy a lot so hopefully we can move up to the top
step there!”
Loris Capirossi:
“I am really happy for the whole team because Chris
did a great job to finish third and I know it means a lot
to everyone. I had to fight a lot with myself for the whole
race and by half distance I had quite a lot of pain and was
finding it very difficult to change direction, but for me
the wet conditions helped with the injury. I had a battle
with Randy and on the last corner I was able to overtake him
and that was really good for me because I was still able to
fight even with the injury and I know it will have healed
more next time and I’ll be a lot stronger.”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“I said yesterday that we would do our best to salvage
something from a difficult weekend, but the results today
were well above our expectations. Certainly the weather levelled
things up and helped us to an extent, but that doesn’t
take away from the tremendous performances of both riders.
Chris has had some bad luck this season and certainly deserves
his – and the team’s – first podium of the
year. This can only give him more confidence as we head to
one of his favourite tracks next weekend. From 14th on the
grid to challenging the top two by mid-race was an amazing
job. We didn’t quite have enough speed to live with
the front two, but third is a great reward for Chris and all
his guys who have worked so hard all year.
“Loris’s result on paper was not as good, but
the effort shown to ride in the conditions out there and fight
till the end was truly remarkable. Some riders can tend to
make more of injuries than necessary and others sometimes
try to hide them completely. Loris is certainly in the latter
group and he was really hurting out there today, so again
we have to thank him for his determination and effort, and
for showing his never-say-die attitude. He will be fully fit
by Brno and Loris and his guys are looking forward to that
part of the season.”
Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland Race Classification:
Casey Stoner (Ducati) 47’30.057: 2. Valentino Rossi
(Yamaha) +3.708: 3. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP)
+14.002: 4. Alex de Angelis (Honda) +14.124: 5. Andrea Dovizioso
(Honda) +42.022: 7. LORIS CAPIROSSI (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP)
+1’04.483:
World Championship Classification: 1. Rossi
187: 2. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 171: 3. Stoner 167: 4. Jorge
Lorenzo (Yamaha) 114: 5. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 98: 7. CHRIS
VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 73: 11. LORIS CAPIROSSI (RIZLA
SUZUKI MOTOGP) 60:
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