Vermeulen will be back onboard his ZX-10R at Assen this weekend.

Queenslander Chris Vermeulen will make his return to the Superbike World Championship this weekend at Assen’s fourth round of the 2010 series in the Netherlands, recovering from recent keyhole surgery on his injured right knee, but is still working hard to get full bend and strength back before practice commences on Friday.

Vermeulen has an enviable Superbike record at Assen, having taken three of his ten career victories at the Dutch circuit, before he switched to MotoGP.

With a degree of Dutch family heritage, Vermeulen knows he will also be able to count on support from the enthusiastic local crowd at Assen once again.

“My knee has been improving every day since I had keyhole surgery and I have a good feeling in most of its range,” the Aussie Kawasaki Racing Team rider said. “The difficult part now is getting enough bend in it, and also enough strength and stability in my knee to race at Assen.

“I want to be able to come back and ride at my normal level. I am getting physiotherapy every day and it is all starting to pay off. I am optimistic that it will have improved even more by race weekend. Assen has lots of flowing parts so you do get a little bit more time to move your body weight around. I really enjoy racing at Assen and have had successful results. I also seem to get a lot of very welcome support there because of my Dutch heritage.”

Vermeulen suffered the knee injury in race two at Phillip Island, crashing at high speed on the lead-up to Lukey Heights.