A knee injury force Chris Vermeulen to withdraw from the latest World Superbike round in Portugal
Chris Vermeulen will take no further part in the second round of the World Superbike Championship at Portimao after finding himself unable to ride around his knee injury.
Vermeulen, who has been recovering from damaged ligaments in his knee since the accident at Phillip Island last month, left it until the last moment to decide whether to race but having been given the all-clear by doctors to compete he confirmed he would be present for Kawasaki at Portimao.
However, come the first day of competition, Vermeulen completed just two exploratory laps during first free practice before deciding he would not be able to set a representative lap time.
With Kawasaki SRT unable to replace Vermeulen for the remainder of the race weekend, Tom Sykes will be the team's sole representative in Portugal.
Vermeulen now faces a race against time to fit for the following round in Spain in two weeks time.
