Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

INTEilVIEW Ten Kate Honda 's Chris Vermeulen "It was a big thing going to Castrol Honda ," he said. "It probably wasn't the best thing to be in the public eye so much and yet not getting the results . We had prob lems that year. It was Michelin's last year in World Supersport, so they weren't really developing tires much further. We were the factory Honda team , our engines came from Japan, but the Ten Kate team seemed to be able to build faster engines than anyone , so we struggled with speed and tires." Despite the lack of performance, one more infl uential figure swept into view to elevate Vermeulen up from potential career doldrums. Gerrit Ten Kate, the man behind the eponymous Ten Kate Racing Team, had talent spotted Vermeulen , and when a slot became available in the satellite van Zon Honda World Supersport squad (like a satellite version of the Ten Kate team itself) Vermeulen was slotted into place on another fast Honda. "To start with, Gerrit Ten Kate saw me race in the UK, because he was building the engines for Castrol Honda at that time ," Vermeulen said, "He had seen what I could do on a bike, so even though my year on Castrol Honda wouldn't have got me a ride for the next year, Gerrit wanted to put me on the van Zon team in 2002, and then they put me on their own bike in 2003." After winningthe Supersport Championship by an easy record points score , Vermeulen was the first rider to dominate in such a fashion in the heavilyfactory-supported Supersport series. Vermeulen is disarmingly honest in his appraisal of such an outstanding, crushing season. "I wasn't that surprised with the point score I put up in 2003," he adm its. "I won the championship at Imola, and even the weekend before at Assen I hadn't sewn it up. Icould have lost it at any time , and I still felt that Istill had a lot of wo rk to do to finish the champ ionship off. I had some easy races during the year, but I put that down to the team. The bike was very good , but the people I had working in the team , in my op inion, were very good , and that 's why I've stayed with the team this year." Vermeulen was the obvious choice to run the all-new Honda Superbike in 2004, as the Ten Kate effort grew bigger wings than ever before. Bigenough to be Honda's only representatives in full- time World Superb ike, albeit in an unofficial fashion. Vermeulen acknowledges the part the team has played in his recent career and why they have made a big impress ion in Superbike in a rookie season for all involved. "The great thing about that team is that everyone gets along so well, and everyone is treated equal in the team , from Ronald the team manager, to the chief mechan ic and the guy that takes the wheels to Pirelli ," Vermuelen said. "Everybody is treated equally They all . come from the same area of Holland, and they are good friends, and that's one of their secrets. Mygrandparents are from Ho lland. I only understand a bit of Dutch, but I'm learning more and more, even though we do all the team work in English, when I'm around . Maybe sometimes they talk in Dutch when they're talking about me!" His hop to Superbike acclaim seems to have been an easy enough one . Vermeulen understands enough not to be fazed by his recent move up to a 200hp machine on slicks · and being the lone Honda rider, "I think every time Iget on, it's only a motorbike," he said. "It's got two wheels and a pair of handlebars, and we've only got to take it around a few corners, which are tarmac jo ined by straights . When you look at it that way, it's not too difficult, and I have a team that works as well as they do; we can develop the bike very quick. Iy I don't see it as such a difficult thing; you just have to . SO JULY 7, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS get down to it and work quite hard in the off-season." Some reckon that World Superbike is not the series it once was, and they would be right. But it is still filled by some familiar and new winning faces, riders for whom success at a high level is no stranger. Going into World Superbike this season is something of a do uble-edged sword for the young Aussie, who seems to have a very balanced view of the whole affair. "For my results this is a good year to come in," he said. "As we know from the past, tires can make or break championships and riders. Now we 're all on the same , There are some good riders in World Superbike , but there aren't some of the riders there were - the big names like Bayliss and Edwards and Hodgson to a degree, plus Xaus. If those riders were in the championship, it would be a lot more difficult to win a race , but on the other hand I would be learning a lot more, so I guess there are good parts and bad parts to it." Of the current championship fight, Silverstone appeared to show that it could well be a four-rider scrap fo r the biggest productio n. based prize of all. He rates Noriyuki Haga as the numbe r-one threat to the leading factory pair of Regis Laconi and James Toseland. "Silverstone was the first time I had really ridden with Haga and to some extent Laconi," Vermeu len said. "Noriyuki as a rider has been there and done it, pushed for a World Champ ionship and won a lot of races . Riding with him - I really rate him. If he doesn't have the reliability problems he's had in the first half of the year then I think he's a real threat for the championship." Vermeulen may not be tempting fate by not talking about his own chances too much, but he feels that on an all-new bike, and not on the almost ubiquitous Ducati, he has something of a gently sloping uphill battle. "I think we 're still at a slight disadvantage at the moment," he said. "My bike puts out a lot of horsepower, but it's undeveloped horsepower at present. If it's all on different tires then it would be a lot more even , but with the Pirellisat the moment, they have all been developed for the Ducatis. Steve Martin was on them for years 40th Anniver sary on a Ducati, and at the beginningof the season they were only really deve loped with Ducati. There are also only really three choices for each race, and we have to just make the bike work around the tires. The Ducatis put the power out completely differently from ours , so from that side we're at a disadvantage. Obv iously, the Honda is very fast, and it is still developing, so we can work to make the bike work around the tires ." The whole Hondas-tn-world-Superb ike question remains just that . Honda Europe supports the Ten Kate Superbike effort , but all of Honda, including HRC, supports the Ten Kate Supersport effort , with stickers on the bikes and all. This dichotomy of thinking, as the Japanese sanction against promoter FGSport seems to continue unabated, leaves Vermeulen in the strange position of hero for winning a race , but an outside r within the larger family group. "Honda will promote with the win at Silverstone, delinitely, but it is a strange situation, and Idon't understand all of it," he said. "There are HRC st ickers o n the 600, and support comes from there, but in Superbike we get nothing. A very strange situation, but I hope my win at Silverstone will help to bring Honda back in but also prove to Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki that four-cylinders can win races and that they will come back in next year. I believe that if one of the factories comes back in then the who le lot of them will." As for the rest of Vermeulen's rookie World Superbike season , there are a couple of tracks he reckons he can shine on again. "Phillip Island, Silverstone, Assen and Imola are my four favorite circuits," he said. "I really seemed to go well there. The bike also suits the faster trac k better becaus e of the way it puts its power out . It was quite difficult to ride around Oschersleben. The horsepower hasn't been developed properly yet. I think there are still some good tracks to come. I've never been to Laguna Seca, so that w ill be new for me. Brands Hatch is not going to be easy, but I think we 're going to be relatively close to them there anyway. Laguna will be new for the team, the bike and me, but I hope it's not going to be any tougher than Oschersleben was! We have had data from the 600 to relay to the Superbike, even though sometimes it's completely different, sometimes it helps a bit. Here it is new for the team , new for me, not even ridden around there. At Silverstone we were inside the top three in every session, so when things go right, they are really right, and I believe the team won 't get too flustered about not knowing Laguna. They work very methodically and just sit down and get the job done ." A bit like the man Vermeulen himself, who seems to react to any challenge and ste p up in class in a positive fashion. So how does he think the world sees him, this 22.year·old kid with a bright future ahead ? Embarrassed to be asked to describe his own character, Vermeulen finally warmed to the subject: ''I'm quite laid back. I'm very competitive in what I do. I like to beat everybody at everything, even if it's my little sisters. I was quite intelligent at school, did a lot of harder subjects, some of them quite well." Ambition is a driving force for the all top-level riders , and Vermeulen is not short of that commodity either. "The perfect end to this year would be to win the champ ionship, stay with Honda and, if all the manufacturers came back in, to win the World Superbike Championship again," Vermuelen said. "Then to move to MotoGP and within three years try to win the championship the re . That would be an impressive goal!" eN

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