Vermeulen battles to seventh at Dutch TT
 Rizla
Suzuki MotoGP racer Chris Vermeulen was involved in a thrilling
race at the Dutch TT today, eventually crossing the line in
seventh place after many race-long battles.
Vermeulen got a good start and was up into sixth by the end
of the first lap - from eighth on the grid. He narrowly avoided
a crash that forced him wide in the early part of the first
lap, but was able to keep control of his Suzuki GSV-R and
set about chasing riders in front of him. Vermeulen made a
couple of superb overtaking manoeuvres as he made his way
up into fourth place. He held on to that position for a few
laps although he was under constant pressure from the group
of riders around him. As the race progressed front grip became
an issue and the 26-year-old Australian had to fight for every
place. Vermeulen dropped down to eighth, but immediately fought
back to bring his machine home for a hard earned seventh.
Vermeulen was Rizla Suzuki’s sole rider at today’s
Grand Prix following the withdrawal of Loris Capirossi after
a crash on Thursday during practice when he injured his arm.
Capirossi was present at the circuit for most of the day and
has now returned home to continue with his recuperation in
readiness for the next event.
Today’s race was held in overcast conditions with the
threat of rain never far away. It did stay dry throughout
the 26 laps and the 94,978 fans at trackside saw Casey Stoner
comprehensively win the race by over 11 seconds, as he led
from start to finish on his Bridgestone shod Ducati.
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will next be in action at Sachsenring
for the German Grand Prix on Sunday 13th July, where it is
planned that Vermeulen will be joined back in the team by
Capirossi.
Chris Vermeulen:
“I got a good start and moved into a good position
through the first two corners, but I was nearly involved in
the crash and had to run wide causing me to almost lose the
front. The bike worked really well in the beginning part of
the race and I had a lot of grip from the Bridgestones. I
felt like my pace was better than the guys in front and I
could see them and thought I could get up to them, but once
I got past and up into fourth the grip went off a bit and
it became quite slippery out there. Unfortunately I lost a
bit of time and dropped back a few positions, but I was still
quite strong at the end of the race and managed to get back
to seventh. Considering the problems we have had this weekend
and losing a couple of sessions – one to problems on
the first day and another to the rain – it is a decent
result and we have managed to salvage something from it. Full
congratulations to the team they did a great job again, and
I’d like to say get well soon to Loris, I hope he is
back at Sachsenring so he can give me a run for my money!”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“To qualify eighth and finish seventh in dry conditions
today - with Chris as our sole representative - was not too
bad. Sure, both Chris and the whole team want more and he
pushed hard to get up to fourth with some great passes, but
we couldn’t maintain the required speed in the middle
of the race to battle for the top-five. In the end when Chris
re-grouped and pushed to the absolute limit he was able to
improve again, but in general we need to break this mould
and maintain our speed over full race distance - this is Suzuki’s
focus over the coming weeks.
“I’d like to thank Loris for staying with the
team over the weekend to support us, and for meeting all the
local Rizla and Suzuki guests that came to visit the team
– it really showed his true dedication considering the
amount of pain he was in. It is such a shame he wasn’t
out there on one of his favourite racetracks this weekend.
I wish him a speedy recovery and I am sure all the fans will
want him back on the bike as much as we do at Sachsenring
next month!”
A-Style TT Assen Race Classification:
1. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 42’12.337: 2. Dani Pedrosa
(Honda) +11.310: 3. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +17.125: 4. Nicky
Hayden (Honda) 20.477: 5. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) +27.346:
7. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +32.330: DNS. LORIS
CAPIROSSI (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP):
World Championship Classification:
1. Pedrosa 171: 2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 167: 3. Stoner
142: 4. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 114: 5. Edwards 98: 9 CHRIS
VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) 57: 11. LORIS CAPIROSSI (RIZLA
SUZUKI MOTOGP) 51:
|
