Chris Vermeulen is determined to compete at Assen this weekend. Vermeulen rode during the practice session at Donington Park, but the Paul Bird Motorsports team decided that he wasn’t healthy enough to compete.
Now that Vermeulen has had a little more time to rest and recuperate, both the Kawasaki team and Vermeulen feel confident that he’ll compete this weekend.
Vermeulen will join his teammates Tom Sykes and Joan Lascorz at Assen. Sykes was able to score a first row start at Donington Park, and Lascorz scored a fifth place finish, the best finish so far aboard the new Kawasaki ZX-10R.
"We showed we had good pace at Donington and Tom proved that with a great ride during Superpole to get on the front row but was unlucky to crash out of race one when well placed. Joan did brilliantly to bring the bike home in fifth in race two and I think we can expect both riders to be challenging for podiums again this weekend,” said team owner Paul Bird.
Bird is confident that the Kawasaki team can build on their success at Donnington Park, especially with the help of Vermeulen.
“It was very important Chris rode at Donington and has had further time to recuperate so I'm hopeful he'll be able to be competitive too,” Bird said. “Kawasaki's last win in World Superbikes came here five years ago so it's about time there was another one."
