From Paul Bird Motorsport
Kawasaki Superbike Racing Team rider Chris Vermeulen will miss his home round of the World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island in Australia this weekend having been withdrawn on medical grounds.
The 28-year-old former World Supersport Champion had an operation to rebuild his knee last July and is now in the final phase of rehabilitation after such complex surgery. His doctors are very pleased with the progress that he has made to date but an evaluation prior to the current official IMS test sessions at Phillip Island confirmed that Chris still has to achieve the final few degrees of bend in his knee joint to regain 100 percent of his race fitness.
Riding his Paul Bird Motorsport-prepared Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R at race pace now would aggravate the knee and almost certainly delay his full recovery so Vermeulen and the team have agreed that his long term recovery is the most important thing for all concerned, meaning he will miss the first round of the championship on Sunday.
Akira Yanagawa will replace Vermeulen for Phillip Island and the Penrith-based team will concentrate their full efforts for race weekend on regular KRT riders Tom Sykes (pictured) and Joan Lascorz.
"We decided as a team that the best thing was not to race or test at Phillip Island," Vermeulen said. "It is unfortunate because it is my home round and I have gone through such a long recovery already. It would have been nice to start off the season fit and strong but we did not want to risk any further damage to my knee. Just as importantly, I am not fit enough to compete at the top level yet so it is better to not ride at the moment."
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