Vermeulen ruled out for Valencia

Vermeulen ruled out for Valencia

Tuesday, 06 April 2010 11:45



Kawasaki Racing Team's Chris Vermeulen has visited an orthopedic surgeon in Belgium after missing out on the second round of the WSB season at Portimao.

The 27-year-old from Brisbane announced in a blog, posted on his personal website, that he had undergone an arthroscopy operation with Dr Claes last week to help speed up his recovery.


Vermeulen, who spearheads the Kawasaki attack after returning to WSB this year, had an unfortunate start to the year when he damaged his right knee in a high-speed crash in the second race at Phillip Island. After deciding on an early return in Portugal, he was only able to complete two laps of practice on board his ZX-10R before giving up for the rest of the weekend.


The Australian said the operation had been successful, despite the serious damage his knee had suffered, but confirmed that he would miss out on this week's round at Valencia and that he hopes to be fit for round four at Assen at the end of April.

Andrews replaces injured Vermeulen for Valencia

Wednesday, 07 April 2010 14:22



British rider Simon Andrews will replace the injured Chris Vermeulen in the Kawasaki Racing Team this weekend at Valencia as the Australian recovers from keyhole surgery on his injured right knee. Andrews tested at Valencia in the past week, in a two-day session during which he got to know the Superbike World Championship spec Kawasaki ZX-10R rather than his MSS Colchester British Championship machine, as well as learning the tricky and twisting 4.005km Valencia circuit. Andrews was able to set good times on day two, after taking the first day at a relatively steady pace as he settled into his new temporary role.


Simon Andrews declared: "I am excited by the chance of riding for the Kawasaki Racing Team in World Superbike this weekend. It was good of them to give me the chance to test before the race. It went well; we all worked hard and moved forwards. It was also good to have raced last weekend in BSB as I have already had a taste of competition. From a rider's point of view it is good to work with the people they have in the KRT set-up."

just throw wattie on the fukin thing an be done with it !

Simon Andrews is a bit of a gun ... I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do on the WSBK spec machine.

A real shame Andrews broke his leg, could've been much worse though, that was a big one

think the bike is jinxed!

How did the crash happened looked like a really weird one, memories of the Kawasaki motogp machine blowing a rear tyre at mugello.

think the guy in front blew his engine and he ran into him. you can see him going off to the right in a cloud of smoke at the start.

Simon Andrews has been left with a broken heel following his high-speed crash in the second race of the day in Valencia, although the BSB regular admits he was lucky not to be more seriously hurt.

Andrews, standing in for the injured Chris Vermeulen at Kawasaki SRT, was forced to take a trip to the medical centre himself when he crashed three laps into the second race, the Briton having collided with Vittorio Iannuzzo.

While it remains unclear as to exactly what happened, Andrews says he was hit from behind by the Italian along the home straight, causing him to fall at considerable speed and impact the pit wall.

Although he pronounced himself as 'overall fine', the fall has nonetheless left him with a broken bone in the top of his foot and a damaged heel too.

"It has been a great learning experience to ride for the Kawasaki Racing Team and to be part of the paddock. I enjoyed working with the guys for both the test and the race. We started the weekend with a few chassis issues but we were slowly turning that around and making steady progress.

“Race one was OK and in race two I got a good start and was finding a decent rhythm. When Tom went past me, I was hoping to stay with him and gain some places but the next thing I knew I was hit from behind on the straight and can't remember much after that.

“The team are saying I am lucky as from what I've been told it looked pretty bad on the TV but my left foot is a bit smashed up and pretty painful right now. I have broken the heel and top bone of my foot and have obviously a few bruises to contend with but overall I'm fine.

“I'd like to thank the team for the opportunity to ride and how disappointed I am in having to end the weekend this way."

Andrews has now been ruled out for the second round of the British championship at Thruxton this coming weekend. MSS Colchester Kawasaki will reveal his replacement later in the week.

memories of the Kawasaki motogp machine blowing a rear tyre at mugello.

Front tyre