Vermeulen fit to race but misses free practice
Added on Friday, March 26th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Vermeulen fit to race but misses free practice
Chris Vermeulen will race this weekend in Portimao after being given the all-clear by doctors but the Australian still has reservations about his fitness, sitting out the first free practice session this afternoon.
Vermeulen crashed out of the season opener in Phillip Island three weeks ago and has struggled with fitness since, admitting earlier this week that he was struggling to be comfortable sitting on a motorcycle and raised doubts only yesterday about his fitness when he arrived in Portugal, writing on his personal Twitter profile “Knee feels OK considering I’ve been travelling for over 30hrs. Not sure if it will be good enough to race, will try.”
Vermeulen has however been given the go-ahead to race by Clinca Mobile doctors and although he had hoped to take part in FP1, it was left to Brit Tom Sykes to take the Kawasaki alone.
“The doctors at the Clinica Mobile have already said it is OK for me to race,” said the former Rizla Suzuki rider. “On Sunday it is going to be four weeks since the accident and really I need two months for everything to heal properly,” said Vermeulen.
“I sat on the bike for the first time and it is a little difficult to get my knee into position, but we can lower the foot-peg and raise the seat, do whatever we can to help that. The Clinica Mobile will tape up my knee and give me some injections for the pain.”
