Q. Chris, it's not hard to pick the main highlight from 2007 so far: when you climbed up
on the top step of the podium in France, did it feel like you belonged there?
Chris Vermeulen: Yes, definitely! I was so excited to be up there, not just for
me but for Suzuki - it had been such a long time for them.
Q. Twice this season you have been the '2' in an Aussie 1-2 finish behind Casey Stoner,
in the USA and at the San Marino Grand Prix. At that Misano race you said you felt you
could catch him, but added that perhaps you were kidding yourself. Can you catch the
new World Champion in the next couple of years?
CV: Yes, I really think we can - and hopefully Phillip Island is the first place where we
can prove it.
Q. When you re-signed for Suzuki, you described the development of the GSV-R since
you started with the team as 'incredible'. Taking the start as Everest base camp, how
high up the mountain are you now - and what will it take to get to the top?
CV: We're three-quarters of the way up the mountain, I think - but getting to the top is
the hardest bit. For us it's a question of exiting the corners: there are a few different
ways of achieving that. We've got the horsepower with the GSV-R but getting it all down
to the ground is what we're working on.
Q. Yet it seems, from the outside, as if you've taken a backward step in the last couple
of races. Anything to worry about?
CV: We had a problem with the bike in Portugal, a really big vibration we just couldn't
get rid of. But we didn't have that in Japan. At Motegi, on the start line, it was a really
strange thing: the ECU just failed before the start. It was strange, but it's something
Suzuki won't allow to happen again. full story on autosport.com - pic from rizla-suzuki-
motogp.co.uk