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| Chris Vermeulen on his way to 5th at Assen |
For Australian rider Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen earned his best result of the season
in Assen on Saturday,the Australian crossed the line in fifth place in the Dutch date. Whilst fellow Rizla Suzuki rider Loris
Capirossi could have finished one place behind, unfortunately he encountered a late difficulty in the form of Toni Elías
who ran Capirossi off the track and late rwould be penalised for the discretion.
Chris Vermeulen had this to say about his race "I'm obviously happy because this is my best result
of the year and we have shown that we have made a step with the bike after the Barcelona test - especially on the chassis
side of things. At this track - and the next couple that we are going to - it is not so important on the motor front, so the
slight speed disadvantage that we have is not so bad and we can still be competitive. I got a good start to the race and got
in with the front guys early on. I tried as hard as I could to stay with them, but didn't quite have the lap-times to
hang in there. I kept pushing all race and when Colin came past I tried to hang on to him, but he seemed to have a bit more
rear grip than me. Most of the race after that was pretty boring as I was on my own. I'm happy with fifth and it gives
us some valuable points in the championship and a good result to take forward into Laguna Seca."
Whilst Loris Capirossi said this about his ninth place "It
was not a good result today and it began with a bad start by me, it made it very difficult all race because it is not very
easy to overtake here. When I was pushed wide I was really disappointed because it meant I had to start all over again and
chase the other guys to get past. I got past three riders on the last lap and I was just behind Kallio on the last few corners
and then he crashed, so I was sixth. I thought that would be not too bad, but on the last corner Elias tried to overtake me
and put me out and that was it, it was is all over. I am upset because I really think if I had got a good start today I would
have had a good race and we'd have been competitive, but it's finished now and we have to move on."
