It isn’t hard to see that Chris Vermeulen is eager to get back on his motorcycle. After a crash at Phillip Island in the opening round of the World Superbike season, Vermeulen was kept out of competition by an injured knee. Every race since then, he has been hopeful about his chances to return to the WSBK, but doctors have thought otherwise. Now, with Assen just a few days away, Vermeulen feels that his knee has recovered enough to allow him to race.
“My knee is improving every day since I had keyhole surgery over a week ago and I have a good feeling in most of its range. The difficult part now is getting enough bend but also strength and stability in my knee to race at Assen because I don't want to turn up to just ride around” said Vermeulen.
Vermeulen was replaced by Simon Andrews at Valencia, where Andrews suffered one of the worst accidents of the season. Luckily, Andrews escaped the accident unharmed. Vermeulen’s teammate Tom Sykes has scored in 5 of the 6 races, but has not managed to break the top ten.
“I really enjoy racing at Assen and have had successful results there in both Superbikes and in MotoGP, I also get a lot of support there because of my Dutch heritage,” said Vermeulen. “I therefore hope that I can put on a good show and be fit enough to compete and join the team once again.”
