After a successful career in dirt track racing Chris Vermeulen switched to road racing in 1998, winning races in his first season, before confirming his potential when he made the leap up to the Australian Superbike and Superstock championship the following year.
On the advice of Barry Sheene, Vermeulen moved to Europe, racing for the Sanyo Honda team, in 2000. He was immediately competitive on Supersport and Superstock machines, winning the Donington round of the European Superstock Championship.
Vermeulen then signed to race for the Castrol Honda Team in the 2001 World Supersport championship, but it was a tough year in which he finished just 17th, prompting a move to the Van Zon Honda Team for 2002.
Two podium finishes and constant top ten places delivered a seventh place championship finish and earned him a contract with the Ten Kate Honda Team, the reigning World Supersport Champions, for 2003. Vermeulen made the most of his opportunity, wining four out of the 11 rounds (and four other runner-up places) on his way to a first world title.
As a result of those achievements, the young Aussie was rewarded with a ride on Honda's new Fireblade in the 2004 World Superbike championship, again with Ten Kate. After a slow start to the season as the team developed the Fireblade, Vermeulen finished the year in a four-rider battle for the title, finally finishing fourth in the championship.
Vermeulen remained with Ten Kate for 2005, running alongside Karl Muggeridge and with title sponsorship from Winston, but a slow start to the season would give Alstare Suzuki's Troy Corser vital championship ground that would never be made up.
Chris final broke the Suzuki stranglehold with victory in race two at Monza (round four) but is was a false dawn and it would take until round nine, at Assen, for the Australian to win again. But he did so with a clean sweep of both races and would then finish 1-2 (behind debut winner Lanzi) next time out in Germany before clinching race one at Imola.
But it was all too late and when heavy rain descended on Imola before race two, Vermeulen surrendered his title chance by agreeing with his fellow riders that it was too dangerous to race. Vermeulen then proved what might have been by winning race one at the Magny Cours season finale – and had an excellent chance of winning race two had it not been for a broken chain while battling Lanzi for the lead.
Vermeulen finished the season runner-up, but his efforts had been noticed in MotoGP - by both Camel Honda and (not known at the time) Team Suzuki. With Troy Bayliss facing a long injury layoff, the Pons team called up Vermeulen as a substitute for his home GP at Phillip Island. Chris qualified 14th on his way to 11th in the race, then impressed further next time out in Turkey with 11th on the grid and 11th in the race - in front of factory Honda Max Biaggi.
There was speculation that Vermeulen would be given a further outing at the Valencia season finale, but ever increasing rumours that he had signed for Suzuki put an end to that. It would later be revealed that Suzuki had approached Vermeulen about the GP ride long before his Camel debut, and with Honda unable to guarantee a MotoGP seat his decision to join John Hopkins on the GSV-R in 2006 was soon taken.
The Suzuki was rarely a match for the factory Hondas, Yamahas and Ducatis in race specification, but Vermeulen signalled his ability by taking a wet pole position in round three at Istanbul and claimed his first dry pole position in the US GP at Laguna Seca. Vermeulen led a substantial part of the race, but was denied a debut podium by fuel problems. Nevertheless, three rounds later, Vermeulen did stand on a MotoGP rostrum for the first time after finishing second, in front of his home fans, in the rain interrupted Australian Grand Prix and finished his first MotoGP season 11th in the standings.
Vermeulen entered his second MotoGP season eager to prove he could beat the best in the world - encouraged by the Suzuki's new 800cc machine, which was by far the factory's most competitive four-stroke machine to date. Chris was overshadowed by team-mate John Hopkins for the first round rounds, but his slow start to the season ended in style at the wet French Grand Prix - when he exploited his wet weather skills to win his first ever MotoGP race, and the first race win for Suzuki since Sete Gibernau in 2001 (on a 500cc two-stroke).
Despite claims that he hates riding the rain, Vermeulen continued to work his magic in slippery conditions - taking third at Donington Park and then pole position next time out in Assen. Much to his frustration, Chris found it difficult to replicate those results in the dry - partly due to poor qualifying performances - but a breakthrough dry ride came at the US GP, when he finished second to Casey Stoner, a result he then repeated at two rounds later at Misano.
By now, Vermeulen was battling with team-mate Hopkins for top Suzuki honours, but the last five rounds weren't kind to Vermeulen, who took a best finish of sixth and slipped behind both Hopkins and Marco Melandri to finish a still creditable sixth in the final standings.
With Hopkins moving to Kawasaki, Vermeulen will be joined by former Ducati star Loris Capirossi for the 2008 season - when Chris hopes to establish himself as a title contender.
1994 - 1997 : Five times runner-up Australian Junior Dirt Track Championship
1998 : 250cc and Supersport racing - two wins.
1999 : 8th Australian Superbike Championship
2000 : 6th British Supersport Championship - Sanyo Honda
2000 : 21st Supersport World Championship - Castrol Honda
2001 : 17th World Supersport Championship - Castrol Honda
2002 : 7th World Supersport Championship - Van Zon Honda
2003 : World Supersport Champion - Ten Kate Honda
2004 : 4th World Superbikes - Ten Kate Honda
2005 : 2nd World Superbikes, six wins - Winston Ten Kate Honda
2006 : 11th in MotoGP World Championship - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
2007 : 6th MotoGP World Championship - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
