Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128400
The Next Big Thing? A fter the resurgence of European riders /'"\since the end of the Mick Doohan era in MotoGp, the Australian riders have been more prominent in the World Superbike Championship. One product of this series making a big name for himself has been Chris Vermeulen - the lead rider in the Winston Ten Kate Honda squad and the runner-up in this year's World Superbike Championship. Only the blitzing start of eventual champion Troy Corser, and his near-factory Suzuki's immediate readiness to win races, stopped Venmeulen from taking the championship - in only his second year of World Superbike competition. World Supersport Champion in 2003, multiple World Superbike race winner, Suzuka 8 Hour runner-up in 2005, and now inductee into the Camel Pons team for his home Phillip Island GP race, we asked the 23-year-old Vermeulen about his present and future plans. Now that you are confirmed for the Phillip Island race, how do you expect it to pan out? The ride is for at least the Phillip Island race, and I'm really looking forward to it. It's a great opportunity and, of course, coming at Phillip Island - I don't think it could have happened at a better circuit for me. But it will still be very hard, as I haven't even sat on the bike yet. I have a little bit of experience with the tires, thanks to the Suzuka 8 Hours, but that's about it. Carbon brakes will be new for me as well, so it will be an interesting learning curve. I won't have the chance to ride the bike first, just go out on it on Friday morning. That's the way it goes. I am going to learn a lot anyway. and that is the main thing. Does not the fact that it is happening at Phillip Island double expectations, especially among the Aussie crowd, who may not understand quite how much you are being expected to do? Yes and no. Of course they will support me 100 percent, and pushing for me to get a result, but I'm sure a lot of people will - ourselves and Ducat; - did catch up at some stage. But at the end ofthe season, it is still only me and Troy who are going for race wins. We lost a lot of points early on, and it was hard to catch them back, as even when I was winning races, Troy was finishing second or third most of the time. I was a little bit disappointed about how the championship was won, but realistically it was a tall order to even think about winning the championship after the start. But my goal at Imola was to keep it alive until Magny-Cours and the final round, just to make Troy keep working for the final races. understand that it's going to be difficult to get on something different and get out there and get a result. How much did your second place at the Suzuka 8 Hour help you in being selected for this or any other Honda ride in GPs? I don't know if it had a lot to do with it, to be honest. The push from Honda for me to do this GP ride came from Carlo Fiorani and Honda Europe. That in turn came from what I've been doing in World Superbike, really. Carlo has wanted me to ride a GP bike for a while and arranged an opportunity for me to do it last year, at the end of the season. Unfortunately I couldn't, as I had broken my scaphoid and had to have an operation. He organized a test for me via HRC this year again. and now I get to have a much more serious test, in a way, at Phillip Island. Who have you already met from the Camel Honda Pons team? Michele Morisetti [team PR and longtime presence in the World Superbike paddock], and I met Sito [Pons] at Donington. I know one of the mechanics that works for [Alex] Barros, as he is a good friend of Ruben Xaus [who spends a lot of time in Andorra with Vermeulen and the gaggle of World Supersport/Superbike riders who live in the principality]. I'm not sure at this stage if Troy [Bayliss] is even going to be there at Phillip Island. It would be good if he could be, because of his experience with the bike. Does this ride, or anything Honda has said to you recently, give a clearer indication of where your immediate future lies? Not really. Everything is very much open at the moment. Honda can guarantee me a World Superbike ride for next year, but as everyone knows, I would like to go to MotoGP. But they do not know if there is a position available or not. So we do not really know anything. This ride may influence that position - although nobody at Honda has said it will do. But I would imagine it would. If you were to stay in Superbike, would you have a real game plan for 2006? It seems Corser and Suzuki had everybody reeling at the start of 2005, Do you know what has to happen to give you a better chance of winning World Superbike in 2006? Our problem was that we got a lot of development parts, from Honda and from companies that supply us, very late. We only got to do one test before the first race, at Almeria, a track we don't even race at, and I had never been to before. Then we arrived in Qatar for a two-day test, which was not a lot of benefit to us. We were stuck, a long way behind, not set up at all, and didn't really know a lot about the bike. Our gearboxes arrived, I think, four or five days before the race. If I stay in World Superbike next year; that is what's got to change. Parts have to arrive a lot earlier, and we have to be able to do a lot of testing. Suspension has been a frequent subject of discussion in 2005, from both you and teammate Karl Muggeridge. Will there be a change to that if you stay in World Superbike? There is a possibility. I don't know if what we've got is the best stuff or not the best stuff. But I would like to have the opportunity to try something else. Iam not going to say that I will get on another brand and do a lot better, but I think Ten Kate are willing to keep their options open and try other things. On your website, it says that your ambition is to be MotoGP World Champion not Superbike World Champion. Any significance in that? Obviously, MotoGP is the top class, so that's always where I wanted to go - even before it went to MotoGp, when it was 5OOcc. That is my ultimate goal. What do you think about the past championship season, and the loss of the series in such a strange way? The first part was the most difficult. I still thought I had a chance to beat Troy at some tracks, but as I said, Suzuki just caught everybody out at the beginning of the year, and we 10 oaOBER 19, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS What was it about you that inspired Barry Sheene to say. "This guy's got it," and then help get you good rides in the World Championship? I don't know for sure, because he never said anything to me about exactly why. But I was the only young guy in the Australian Superbike Championship, and I was starting to get some podiums. There were still some good factory riders there at that time, when I was a privateer, 16 years old. Just the kind of guy Barry was meant that he wanted to help out. After two years, what do you make of spec tires in the Superbike Championship, and how successful do you think it has been for everyone involved? From the racing point of view, it has been very successful. It brought the championship back from the state it was in a couple of years ago. Flammini had to do something because, in my opinion, the tire situation did not help keep the championship alive when there were only two Michelin guys out there, winning all the races. Then the Dunlop guys would be fighting for third at best, and then the Pirell; guys were fighting for other points. The current rules have made the racing very close and exciting for the spectators to help them enjoy the racing. At the beginning, the riders were not very happy about it, because the tires were not the best and we were not improving our lap times. Pirelli were doing a great job logistically to supply every single rider in the paddock. Now the tires are starting to get better, as you can see from the lap times at the last few tracks - especially Imola, where we beat the lap records from a couple of years ago when Bayliss and [Colin] Edwards were at their peak. At least the tires are going forward now, not standing still although Pirelli still have a big task to supply so many riders. What's the best thing about being Chris Vermeulen at this point in time? Getting to ride all sorts of motorbikes. Being able to race one of the best Superbikes around and then getting the chance to ride the RCV. And the worst? The traveling. And being away from my family in Australia and my nice 19S4 Ford F ISO pickup truck! Gordon Ritchie