After a brief acquaintance with Kawasaki ZX-10R at the Autopolis circuit in Japan, Chris Vermeulen has finally got some decent time on his new superbike during a two-day test at the Cartagena track, in Spain.
Vermeulen stated that the test proved positive, although he was not chasing laptimes at the Spanish circuit: “Lap time wise, according to most people, we did reasonably well, but we were not trying to go fast.
We were just making changes on the bike and understanding how it was going to react to those changes.
Electronics, suspension, chassis and engine, all that kind of stuff.
”“It was all good and our first real time on the bike to get familiar with it.
It was also the first time working with the mechanics and engineers from the team.
That side also went well.
”” said Vermeulen.
“The team seemed to gel and they are all excited about the future.
They are all good guys and that side worked well too.
I had never been there before, not even in my BSB days, so it was another new thing to learn.
There were only three bikes going around so we maybe didn’t get the track surface at its peak.
But we got a real understanding for how the bike feels and it feels good”.
”Other Kawasaki rider, Tom Sykes was also present, and he too did a number of laps despite some stiffness in his shoulder resulting from an injury he picked up towards the end of the racing season.
