Road racing is a fickle business, and Australia's newest international export Chris Vermeulen experienced it first hand. A nasty crash in practice for the Superstock race set the wheels in motion for what would be a testing weekend both mentally and physically. Chris damaged his left hand in the crash and would spend the rest of the weekend swollen, bruised and in a fair amount of discomfort.

Qualifying was spent chasing a set up that would be consistent over race distance and easier on the hand rather than a one lap flyer, the 9th position on the Honda CBR 600 for the Supersport race was down on what was anticipated but Chris was confident of a better end result. After the crash on the Honda Fireblade (CBR900) there would be no chance of any improvement, just a matter of salvaging as many points as possible and soldiering on. A creditable 4th was all that could be asked for under the circumstances.

A great start in the Superstock race saw Chris lead for the first three laps, "My start was a good one and I put my head down and tried to make the most of it but as the race wore on the hand started to get uncomfortable and it became a matter of survival more than a chance for another victory. I'm happy with 4th I was only 4.6 seconds behind the winner at the end of the race and we got some more valuable points." Said Chris.

A pain killing injection between races was the only change made, it was hoped that it would give some relief and help secure a good finish in the Supersport race. Just before the start down came the rain and a wet race was declared. Chris made a reasonable start and was in 6th for most of the race, as the track dried and the effort started to tell he slipped back to 8th position and was unable to make any further improvement to his finishing position. "I got a good start and was fairly comfortable, but as the track dried the wet weather tyres we had on started to slide and it became harder and harder to hold on as the race wore on. I'm a bit disappointed to finish 8th but under the circumstances it was the best I could manage today.  This weekend was a hard one, I leave for Holland tomorrow, so hopefully I haven't done too much damage and the four days break will help the hand recover a bit. The next round of the British Championship is on the 17th of September so it will have plenty of time to recover fully between now and then. I'm still third in the Superstock Championship and still have a chance to win it so that is a main priority." said Chris.

Chris will now prepare for his World Supersport debut at Assen on the 3rd of Sept.