Vermuelen on his own at Assen

From motogp.com

On his own for Rizla Suzuki in qualifying for the A-Style TT Assen, Chris Vermeulen took eighth on the grid whilst Loris Capirossi plotted his comeback on Friday.

Capirossi, ruled out of the A-Style TT Assen after a crash and forearm injury in Thursday´s second practice session, was in attendance but playing no further part in proceedings, whilst Donington stand-in Ben Spies had politely declined a second opportunity due to a lack of available track time and the unpredictability of the weather. Thus, the team was down to just Vermeulen in the garage at what is a key race for its main sponsor.

As the sole Rizla Suzuki rider on track, Vermeulen put himself on the third row for the Saturday race. He did so after a difficult qualifying session in which some extra data would perhaps have aided his cause.

"In the qualifying session we got a little bit lost with set-up because we tried so many things, and in the end we went back to what we ran yesterday and that seemed to work well," said the Australian, poleman at last year´s race.

"At least we are up there and if we get a good start and a strong first few laps, I think we can be competitive and fight for at least a top five finish," he added.

"It was the same in Donington. With no disrespect to Ben, we couldn´t get a lot of data whilst he was learning the bike and the track and everything. I hope we can get Loris back soon because together I think that we can make this bike a winning package."

Capirossi is aiming to return to competition at the German round of the MotoGP World Championship in two weeks time, after undergoing immediate surgery in the Clinica Mobile. He also expects his previous hand injury from Catalunya to have recovered 100% by the time he next rides the Suzuki machine.