Vermeulen has wrapped up his 2009 testing schedule with Kawasaki.

The Kawasaki World Superbike Racing Team ended an intense period of recent testing activity with two days of riding at Jerez in Spain and now continues its preparations for 2010 in a confident mood.

Queenslander Chris Vermeulen was impressed with the great progress which has been made in the past few weeks, despite losing almost all of the final day of the test as the track conditions finally took a turn for the worse, although he did get some dry laps throughout the test.

“It rained and then stopped raining on the last day and the track surface was never really one way or the other,” explained Chris. “I probably did about 45 to 50 laps in the rain on Monday. It was consistent rain and I got a good chance to try out the bike on a wet setting and with wet tyres. I know Jerez quite well and the overall feeling, and how we improved the bike, was very good. I was impressed with the grip level and how we worked with the bike.

“We had some things we wanted to try on the engine side, electronics and suspension and we tried as much as we could in the wet. Normally things relate from wet to dry, within reason. We definitely improved the bike but we really need to re-test some of these parts and settings in the dry again. The next tests will be the official ones at Portimao in late January and that will be good to evaluate where we are compared to our competition.”

Vermeulen has had a rapid introduction on the ZX-10R in his return to WSBK, testing at a host of non-championship circuits in preparation for 2010.

“We have had three separate sessions and we have been lucky to have had four dry days in Spain in December, and one consistently wet day to work with,” he said. “I feel comfortable on the bike now and I like the way the team are working together. The communication in the team has improved a lot and we are all working well, getting stronger and stronger.”