Vermeulen off pace - From smh
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Vermeulen off pace before Phillip Island February 10, 2010
AAP
MotoGP reject Chris Vermeulen admits he is struggling with his new Kawasaki ahead of this month's season-opening Australian Superbike Championship round at Phillip Island.
However, he is anxious to return to his home track, where he finished second in the rain-soaked 2006 Australian Grand Prix.
Dumped by the factory Suzuki MotoGP outfit at the end of last year, the Queenslander has found refuge in his former home of world superbikes.
Vermeulen has been testing the Kawasaki in Spain, Japan and most recently in Portomao, Portugal.
"During that session we were running somewhere between eighth and 10th on race tyres," Vermeulen said.
"It felt quite comfortable but we've got a lot of work to do but we're not far off being top five and that's going to be the goal for the start of the year."
Kawasaki has also said it does not expect to see Vermeulen competing at the head of the field in his return to world superbikes after five seasons in MotoGP.
From the team side, we dont want Chris to feel any pressure at Phillip Island as we are still developing the bike at a rapid rate," spokesperson Tatia Weston said.
"The realistic expectations for Chris for a dry race is a top 10 position or in the wet, a top six. This is the aim and realistic objective from the Kawasaki technical team."
Compatriot Troy Corser also has work to do as his BMW team prepares for the first race of the year.
The former series champion was 1.4 seconds off the pace in recent testing at a wet Valencia track, in Spain but is upbeat about the potential of the S1000RR bike.
"Because we had lost so much time to the weather, the team threw quite a lot of stuff at us and maybe there was a bit too much to try in the available time and it was quite easy to get a bit confused sometimes," Corser said.
"The bike has improved quite a bit since the end of last season and it's natural for the team to want to get as much info as possible, but sometimes that's a bit hard on us riders because only so much can be done in a limited amount of time.
"Having said that, I feel we learnt quite a bit and found have some good ideas and directions to take the next time we go out.
"I feel very positive about our possibilities as long we can put together all the different elements.
"Hopefully the next test in Phillip Island (February 21-22) will be very productive and make up for the time lost in Portimao and Valencia," Corser said.
AAP
MotoGP reject Chris Vermeulen admits he is struggling with his new Kawasaki ahead of this month's season-opening Australian Superbike Championship round at Phillip Island.
However, he is anxious to return to his home track, where he finished second in the rain-soaked 2006 Australian Grand Prix.
Dumped by the factory Suzuki MotoGP outfit at the end of last year, the Queenslander has found refuge in his former home of world superbikes.
Vermeulen has been testing the Kawasaki in Spain, Japan and most recently in Portomao, Portugal.
"During that session we were running somewhere between eighth and 10th on race tyres," Vermeulen said.
"It felt quite comfortable but we've got a lot of work to do but we're not far off being top five and that's going to be the goal for the start of the year."
Kawasaki has also said it does not expect to see Vermeulen competing at the head of the field in his return to world superbikes after five seasons in MotoGP.
From the team side, we dont want Chris to feel any pressure at Phillip Island as we are still developing the bike at a rapid rate," spokesperson Tatia Weston said.
"The realistic expectations for Chris for a dry race is a top 10 position or in the wet, a top six. This is the aim and realistic objective from the Kawasaki technical team."
Compatriot Troy Corser also has work to do as his BMW team prepares for the first race of the year.
The former series champion was 1.4 seconds off the pace in recent testing at a wet Valencia track, in Spain but is upbeat about the potential of the S1000RR bike.
"Because we had lost so much time to the weather, the team threw quite a lot of stuff at us and maybe there was a bit too much to try in the available time and it was quite easy to get a bit confused sometimes," Corser said.
"The bike has improved quite a bit since the end of last season and it's natural for the team to want to get as much info as possible, but sometimes that's a bit hard on us riders because only so much can be done in a limited amount of time.
"Having said that, I feel we learnt quite a bit and found have some good ideas and directions to take the next time we go out.
"I feel very positive about our possibilities as long we can put together all the different elements.
"Hopefully the next test in Phillip Island (February 21-22) will be very productive and make up for the time lost in Portimao and Valencia," Corser said.