Vermeulen to miss Valencia after surgery
Added on Wednesday, April 7th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Vermeulen to miss Valencia after surgery
Chris Vermeulen will miss this weekend’s WSB round in Valencia after undergoing keyhole surgery to fix the keen problem that kept him out of round two in Portugal.
The Aussie, who crashed out of the opening round of the season at Phillip Island five weeks ago, was expected to race in Portugal a fortnight ago before later pulling out because of a problem with his right knee. Continued pain later forced the former MotoGP man to go under the knife this week but 27-year-old is keen to ensure that he won’t face a long lay-off, despite admitting that he may require a knee reconstruction further down the line.
Kawasaki BSB rider Simon Andrews will ride in place of Vermeulen this weekend in Valencia, with Kawasaki likely to announce wildcard riders on a round-by-round basis.
“I had keyhole surgery on my right knee on Friday by a renowned surgeon called Dr Claes in Belgium,” confirmed Vermeulen. “He cut out some damaged meniscus and tidied up some damaged ligaments and this should speed up the recovery time and help with gaining back more movement in my right knee. The knee will not be 100% even after this surgery because I have done some major damage to it after the Phillip Island crash but I do not have four to six months recovery time for a complete reconstruction which I will no doubt need later on.
“The major damage should not affect me on the bike once I have recovered from the small operation and I have more strength back in my leg. However I will have to change my training routine to include a lot more work on a bicycle and in a pool because I won’t be able to run for some time. Unfortunately I missed last week’s test at Valencia and will now miss the Valencia race also but at this stage I am working hard on being fit for Assen. I will be wishing the team the best of luck for this weekend.”
Speaking about the opportunity to race in WSB this weekend, Andrews said: “I’m delighted to be given an opportunity to race for the Kawasaki Racing Team and am really looking forward to the weekend. I had a good test with the team recently and get on well with everyone so I’m confident of a good result as the bike is great. It’s very flattering also to know that the team and factory are looking to me to help achieve some good results so I plan to reward them as best I can.”
