Much has been made in the Australian motorcycle media over the last few weeks of the news that Chris Vermeulen (remember him?) has been given a wildcard entry into the MotoGp event at Le Mans this weekend to replace the injured Colin Edwards. As noted in my comments to dunc, I cannot see what the fuss is about. And, before I get deluged with people calling me anti-Australian, let me explain.
I saw CV’s first ever road race event at Wakefield Park in 1997. In fact I was the track commentator at that meeting. Before this date, the little Moriwaki 80’s that Tony Hatton had chosen as the “spec” bike for his new junior road racing series, had raced a few times on go-kart tracks in south east Queensland, but this was their first hit-out on a full-sized race track. The entry list was impressive and dotted with names that are now household ones to us. Broc Parkes, Chris Vermeulen and Anthony West to name just a few.
Chris was the star of the show that day and I remember Tony Hatton, when he was doing a “guest” stint on the microphone saying, “Watch out for this young kid from Queensland, he’s going to go a long way, I reckon.” Years of “talent spotting” at race meetings had already seen me notice him as soon as practice started and I was impressed. Tony’s recommendation was spot on.
From that date I followed Chris’s career closely, delighted to see him head overseas and eventually land a ride with the prestigious ten Kate team in the World Supersport Championship. Chris repaid their confidence with a win in the 2003 title race and earned a promotion to the Superbike squad for 2004. He finished 4th in his first year and, but for an injury in the morning warm up at the last race of the season in 2005, he would have won the championship.
But Chris had already had a couple of “sub” rides in MotoGp, replacing fellow Aussie, Troy Bayliss, in the Camel squad and the lure of stepping up to the big class was strong. And it was here that I feel he made the worst career move a rider can make.
Honda promised Chris that, if he’d stay another year with ten Kate and win the World Title, they’d give him a berth in the Repsol Honda MotoGp squad. But Chris, like most young people, was impatient and, instead of seeing the bigger picture, he jumped ship and signed with the Suzuki MotoGp team instead. It turned out to be a nightmare few years that sapped Chris’s confidence and kept him out of the frame for better rides. Despite his one win at Le Mans, in the rain, in which he HATES riding, by the way, results were few and far between. The bike was slow, unreliable and prone to regular catastrophic mechanical failures. The video of John Hopkins kicking the bike at the side of the track pretty much sums up Suzuki’s MotoGp campaign.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tob-quWJ448[/youtube]
By the end of 2009 it was apparent that nothing was going to change. Younger European riders (with money) were coming out of the woodwork everywhere and Chris’s confidence was at rock bottom. Suzuki let him go (though I suspect that he was pretty glad to leave in the end) and it wasn’t a great surprise when the Kawasaki WSBK squad picked up the GP winner for their 2010 campaign. The ZX10-R was known to be a dog, but Kawasaki had promised a new bike for the season and early testing with Chris and Tom Sykes certainly showed potential. Unfortunately, it would all come to nothing. Pushing hard in Race 2 at the first round of the championship at Phillip Island, the bike selected a false neutral over Lukey Heights and Chris was spat off, crashing through the gravel trap and into the tyre wall. Worse was to come because the bike followed him in, his right knee taking the full brunt of the impact.
Chris was out, injured before the season had hardly started. A premature comeback at Brno when he wasn’t fully recovered resulted in another accident and further damage to the same right knee and that pretty much spelt the end of Chris’s career.
What has followed has been a series of painful and extensive operations and an extended period of rehabilitation. At this stage there is no sign that he will race again on a full-time basis, and, though his CV is one of which any rider could be proud (3 MotoGp Pole Positions and 1 win, just to name a few) it is still one that COULD have been so much more impressive had he waited one more year before taking the jump to MotoGp.
Is there any chance that CV will add anything significant to his CV this weekend? Sadly, I don’t think so. He is far from race fit, certainly at MotoGp level and the bike that he’s riding is slow and uncooperative. I see no good coming of this weekend apart from the sponsors having their bike out on the track. It will be, I’m afraid, the end of what should have been a stellar career.
Thank you, Chris, you’ve done us proud. Enjoy your hot rods and thanks for the memories.