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Rizla Suzuki competitor Chris Vermeulen is hoping for an impressive ride at Phillip Island in the Iveco Australian Grand
Prix over this coming weekend of 16th-18th October.
Vermeulen claimed second position three years ago amongst his
home crowd, however a first lap smash at last season’s event saw him end in 15th place.
The 27-year-old is
determined to build on his progress upon the GSV-R engine, a tenth place finish at Estoril from 15th on the grid has allowed
him extra confidence prior to the Australian GP.
“A home GP is always very exciting because all my friends
and family will be there and it's always good to race in front of your countrymen,” states Vermeulen. “The
last time out at Estoril we made improvements in the longer corners with the GSV-R, so hopefully that will help us at Phillip
Island. That long straight is going to be hard work, but we'll certainly be trying as hard as we can to keep in the slipstream.
I really love racing at Phillip Island and hopefully we'll have a good time there!”
Vermeulen’s
colleague Loris Capirossi, who has taken six podiums in 11 events at Phillip Island in his career, is completely focused on
coming back from a 20th lap retirement in Estoril.
“I am still disappointed by what happened in the race
at Estoril, but I am confident of doing much better at Phillip Island than we have in the past on the GSV-R because of the
developments we made in Portugal,” says the Italian. “I had a tough race in Australia last year, but we did improve
on lap-times and with the new bike I think we should be aiming for an even better result this year. We have struggled at Phillip
Island in the past, but we are certainly going there in a much better state of mind than we have done for previous visits.”
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