Rizla Suzuki's
Chris Vermeulen was the second quickest rider on race tyres at Laguna Seca circuit during Saturday's qualifying practice session, but dropped back to eighth on qualifying rubber.
Vermeulen was one of only two riders to lap the circuit in the 1min 21s on race tyres - pole setter
Casey Stoner being the other. However, he was unable to repeat his blistering pace on qualifying tyres and will start from eighth on the grid as Michelin riders finally found grip with their one lap rubber.
"We did some longer runs on race tyres and produced some good lap times," said Vermeulen, who finished second at Laguna Seca last season and was battling for victory in the 2006 event before fuel supply problems. "The times were a lot closer to Casey today and hopefully we can do that again tomorrow. The qualifiers just didn't seem to work for me today and I couldn't go any quicker on them than I did on the race rubber. It sucks starting from eighth position but if I can get a good first couple of laps, I know we can still fight for a podium!"
"Unfortunately - as has sometimes been the case this year - Chris couldn't make the qualifiers work for him," confirmed team manager Paul Denning. "Again, when they are first and second on the grid there is nothing bad about the tyres but there is just something between the match of rider, bike and qualifier that isn't quite working for Chris. We will certainly have to work on that in the Brno test. The good thing is that he is absolutely fine on race tyres and I'm sure he'll show a lot of fight tomorrow and challenge for the podium."
Team-mate
Loris Capirossi struggled to get the most out of his machine on the qualifiers due his arm injury and will start from eleventh.
