Young Guns Set To Load MotoGP Bullets

The immensely talented 23-year-old Australian first took to the Valencia track on Monday afternoon to get himself acquainted with his new bike and crew. He immediately developed a rapport with his Crew Chief Tom O’Kane and the pair quickly made some adjustments to the bike to enable Vermeulen to clock some very impressive times during the 90 minute session.

The test was scheduled to continue for the whole of Wednesday but a lengthy break due to a rain shower and colder track temperatures brought the test to a premature end.

John Hopkins and Nobuatsu Aoki also stayed at Valencia to test the latest development parts for the Suzuki prototype MotoGP machine. Hopkins was impressed with the newest generation Ohlins forks and reported that they were a significant improvement on anything he had used before, as they gave him far more feel and controllability.

Team SUZUKI MotoGP has one more day at Valencia today where all three riders will continue to put themselves and the bikes through yet more laps of testing.

Vermeulen appeared set for a successful 2006 before his first day on the bike was over, commenting, “I really enjoyed my first go on the bike. It made a lot of difference getting on the bike on Monday - with the bad weather conditions as they are today.

“My first impressions are that the bike is very easy to ride and very comfortable. I really enjoyed working with the mechanics, they all have a lot of experience and they’re very methodical and really know what they are doing. We have a lot of work still to do but I am sure we can move in the right direction. I’m having fun, despite the weather!”

His new team-mate John Hopkins was equally bullish about having a hard charger in the camp. “It’s great to have Chris as a team-mate”, said Hopkins. “I’ve already been over on his side of the garage and he’s been over on mine talking and chatting. If he needs any help whatsoever over these next couple of tests to get up to speed I’m more than happy to help him. The sooner he can get up to speed and get to the full limit of the Suzuki GSV-R, the sooner we can start developing it together and get it to where it needs to be.”

Suzuki’s MotoGP Team Manager Paul Denning was all smiles too. “Chris has already shown what great potential he has over this week. From the first time that he climbed onboard the bike on Monday you could feel a mutual bond forming between Chris, Tom and all his team. This is something that is very important to a rider’s belief and confidence and I know that Chris will benefit greatly from the experienced crew he now has at his disposal.”

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