Chris Vermeulen

Christopher Vermeulen (born 19 June 1982) is an Australian retired motorcycle racer. He competed in the Supersport World Championship and the Superbike World Championship before racing in the premier MotoGP class between and , most prominently as a member of the Suzuki MotoGP team, winning the 2007 French Grand Prix.

Vermeulen won the World Supersport Championship for the Ten Kate Honda team in 2003. He then raced in the Superbike class in 2004 and 2005 for the Ten Kate Honda team, finishing as series runner-up in 2005. From 2006 he joined the elite MotoGP series, for the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Team. During his career, Vermeulen was regarded as a wet-weather expert and is affectionately nicknamed 'Vermin' on account of his last name.

Career Early career Vermeulen was born in Brisbane, Australia on June 19, 1982. In 1999, he raced in the Australian Superbike Championship, despite only having participated in a handful of professional races beforehand. He took his Yamaha to eighth in the championship, with a best result of fourth, and the privateer championship for non-factory riders. His mentor Barry Sheene then arranged rides for him in Britain in their Supersport and Superstock classes, and success in these gave him his World Supersport break with Castrol Honda.

Initial success in a few late-2000 races did not translate into a successful 2001, as he only managed a single top-five finish. However, in 2002 he linked up with Dutch team owner Gerrit Ten Kate, taking his first poles and podiums en route to seventh in the championship in the 2002 season. He became the team's lead rider for 2003, and became series champion comfortably with four victories, becoming the youngest ever winner.

Superbike World Championship When Ten Kate arranged a deal to run a Honda Fireblade in World Superbikes for 2004, Vermeulen was the natural choice to ride it. The team did their own development on the bike (in its first test they still used a road-bike clutch), but he still won four races and briefly led the championship before finishing fourth, as the only non-Ducati in the top-eight.

For 2005, the championship had many Yamaha and Suzuki bikes, as well as four more Hondas, including a second Ten Kate entry for Karl Muggeridge. Vermeulen continued to record victories, and took his first pole at Assen in the Netherlands, the country in which his grandfather was born. Victory in the first race at Imola took him to within 55 points of veteran compatriot Troy Corser's lead, but the cancellation of the second race due to heavy rain meant that only 50 points were still available from the remaining round's two races. He still comfortably finished as series runner-up.

MotoGP World Championship Vermeulen rode factory bikes for Honda in the Suzuka 8 Hours race and, because of sponsorship and manufacturer relationships (Japan Tobacco and Honda, as the Ten Kate Honda team was sponsored by Winston a Japan Tobacco brand), also rode a Camel Pons Honda GP bike at the tail end of the 2005 season.

Vermeulen's progress towards a factory Honda ride seemed assured but Honda were only offering him another year in World Superbike, and Japan Tobacco had switched to Yamaha in MotoGP, so he made the bold decision to quit HRC and go with team Suzuki who signed him in 2006 alongside fellow youngster John Hopkins.

2006

Vermeulen scored his first MotoGP pole in Turkey after a stunning ride in the wet, coincidentally one round after fellow Australian rookie Casey Stoner scored his maiden pole. After the Sachsenring race he was 14th in the championship on 46 points, four places and eighteen points behind Hopkins. At the following round at Laguna Seca, Vermeulen took pole position, one of only two non-Americans in the first two rows of the grid. Vermeulen was one of the few riders to have experience of the circuit, due to it being a former circuit of World Superbikes, and was holding its first Grand Prix race since 1993. He had a technical problem while running third. In his home race at Philip Island, he was the fastest man once the field had changed to wet tyres, and charged through the field to finish 2nd. Vermeulen made the transition well, achieving a modestly competitive start to his 2007 campaign, with two seventh places, a ninth and an 11th place in the first four GPs of the season, He followed the victory up with an impressive third place at the British GP, again from 12th on the grid in the wet behind winner and fellow countryman Casey Stoner, and pole position in the wet at Assen. He shone in the dry by starting third and finishing second at the US GP (Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca), again behind Stoner. At this meeting, he was confirmed as a Suzuki rider for 2008.

2008 Suzuki struggled to compete in the 2008 MotoGP Championship, with neither Vermeulen or teammate Loris Capirossi able to secure a race victory. Vermeulen did however secure back-to-back podiums in the German Grand Prix and US Grand Prix before finishing the season in eighth place in the rider's standings.

2009 Although Vermeulen finished every race in 2009, he took just one top-five finish and was generally outpaced by Capirossi. After another difficult season, Vermeulen was told by Suzuki that he would not be offered a new contract for 2010. Álvaro Bautista took his place in the team.

Return to Superbike After failing to secure a contract to remain in MotoGP for the 2010 Championship, Vermeulen sought a return to the Superbike World Championship.

On 6 October 2009, it was confirmed that Vermeulen had signed a contract with the Kawasaki Superbike Team for the 2010 Superbike World Championship season, replacing Makoto Tamada. Vermeulen injured his knee in a crash at the season-opening round at Phillip Island, forcing him to miss the next two races. He continued to struggle throughout the season, and reinjured the knee in a first-lap pile-up at Brno. Following medical advice, he then chose to sit out the remainder of the season in order to regain full fitness.

Personal life In 2011, Vermeulen married his longtime girlfriend, the English model turned photographer Toni Pinion, they have two daughters, Georgia and Matilda. All his racing numbers have the digit "7" as a tribute to his mentor Barry Sheene. He has a penchant for collecting old American Hot Rod cars and has a few in his collection. Currently, Vermeulen works as an analyst and commentator for MotoGP on Fox Sports Australia.

Career statistics

Superstock European Championship Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pos Pts 2000 Honda DON1 MNZ HOC SMR VAL BRAWD OSC NED BRA2 19th 25

Superbike World Championship Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pos Pts Ref R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 2004 Honda SPA12 SPA5 AUS2 AUS2 SMR5 SMR12 ITA4 ITADSQ GER15 GER8 GBR2 GBR1 USA1 USA1 EUR4 EUR3 NED5 NED1 ITA2 ITA6 FRARet FRARet 4th 282 2005 Honda QAT8 QAT4 AUS3 AUS4 SPA2 SPA2 ITARet ITA1 EUR4 EUR4 SMR2 SMR2 CZE8 CZE3 GBR4 GBR3 NED1 NED1 GER1 GER2 ITA1 ITAC FRA1 FRARet 2nd 379 2010 Kawasaki AUSRet AUSRet PORDNS PORDNS SPA SPA NED17 NED14 ITA18 ITA 13 RSA18 RSA16 USA15 USA13 SMR16 SMR15 CZERet CZERet GBR GBR GER GER ITA ITA FRA FRA 20th 10 2011 Kawasaki AUS AUS GBRDNS GBRDNS NEDRet NEDDNS ITADNS ITADNS USA USA SMR14 SMR10 SPA12 SPA14 CZE18 CZEDNS GBR GBR GER GER ITA ITA FRA FRA POR POR 20th 14

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season SeasonClassMotorcycleTeamNumberRaceWinPodiumPoleFLapPtsPlcdWCh 2005 MotoGP Honda RC211V Camel Honda 17 2 0 0 0 0 10 21st – 2006 MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 71 17 0 1 2 0 98 11th – 2007 MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 71 18 1 4 1 1 179 6th – 2008 MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 7 18 0 2 0 0 128 8th – 2009 MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 7 17 0 0 0 0 106 12th – MotoGP Suter MMX1 Forward Racing 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC – Total 73 1 7 3 1 521 0

By class

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Pts 2005 MotoGP Honda SPA POR CHN FRA ITA CAT NED USA GBR GER CZE JPN MAL QAT AUS11 TUR11 VAL 21st 10 2006 MotoGP Suzuki SPA12 QATRet TUR7 CHNRet FRA10 ITA14 CAT6 NED10 GBR16 GER7 USA5 CZE12 MAL11 AUS2 JPN11 POR9 VALRet 11th 98 2007 MotoGP Suzuki QAT7 SPA 9 TUR11 CHN7 FRA1 ITA8 CAT7 GBR3 NED16 GER11 USA2 CZE5 SMR2 POR13 JPN11 AUS8 MAL7 VAL6 6th 179 2008 MotoGP Suzuki QAT17 SPA10 POR8 CHNRet FRA5 ITA10 CAT7 GBR8 NED7 GER3 USA3 CZE6 SMR5 INP9 JPNRet AUS15 MAL9 VAL13 8th 128 2009 MotoGP Suzuki QAT7 JPN10 SPA10 FRA6 ITA10 CAT11 NED5 USA8 GER13 GBR13 CZE11 INP11 SMR9 POR10 AUS11 MAL6 VAL15 12th 106 MotoGP Suter QAT SPA POR FRA17 CAT GBR NED GER ITA USA INP CZE RSM ARA JPN MAL AUS VAL NC 0