No let up for Aussie star

Chris Vermeulen is hoping that Suzuki continues to aggressively develop its new 800cc machine to keep the Japanese factory at the sharp end of the timesheets in winter testing.

Vermeulen and John Hopkins have the revelations of winter testing so far.

And the former World Superbike championship runner-up said: “It’s good to be in this position at this time of the season but it’s long way to go to the first race. We need to keep working very hard, like everyone else. 

“You always know with guys like Valentino Rossi that he’s not going as fast as he can go and he’s probably not the only one like that. It’s important we don’t slow down.”