Vermeulen confident

Chris Vermeulen is confident that Suzuki’s new GSV-R 800 will return to form in testing at Qatar next week.

The Australian’s brilliant winter testing displays stalled recently on home soil at Phillip Island as tyre durability, engine and chassis problems left him down the timesheets for the first time in five tests on the new 800 V4.
   The Rizla Suzuki rider returns to action at the IRTA test in Doha on February 13 and he said: “We left Phillip Island positive despite some problems but we might get to Qatar and the bike not work at all but we are hoping so. That’s the kind of thinking we’ve got in our mind. 

“Our bike works well at a lot of the tracks but we always have little problems that tend to be exaggerated at Phillip Island. We’ve made a big step and hopefully we can make that work for other tracks, starting in Qatar. 

“Qatar is a place in the past where we’ve had to go away from a normal shape front tyre to something completely different. All Bridgestone riders do because of the way the track is and you can’t carry a lot of lean angle there.”