Vermeulen in testing on the ZX-10R at Almeria.

Australian Chris Vermeulen has continued pre-season testing with the Kawasaki World Superbike Team, this time riding at the Almeria circuit in Spain and making further progress in their goal of finding the optimum set-up for the Ninja ZX-10R.

Vermeulen had his first experience of riding at Almeria while simultaneously making improvements to his Ninja ZX-10R over two successful days.

“Our test went well. It was good, my first time at Almeria so I was finding my way around the track again,” said the Queenslander. “It was the second test with all the team together and the guys are gelling well as a unit. We continued our work on from the progress we made at our Cartagena test recently; suspension adjustment and chassis, understanding what changes do what to the bike. We were also working on suspension on a faster circuit.

“The bike felt quite nice and of course we still have some areas to improve. We want to work on the front of the bike to get some more feeling and feedback. But as a whole, it worked quite well. I am looking forward to testing at Jerez next because I know that circuit very well.”

Team manager Paul Risbridger was also satisfied with the progress made during the test.

“We ran until about 4pm on the final day at Almeria and then it started raining but we got two good solid days out of it,” he said. “No crashes and no problems, so good steady progress was made. We were chipping away at the lap times and improved them on day two. That test consolidated where we are in our development. We have a good understanding now and that’s very positive.”

The team will now test at Jerez today, 22 December, to wrap up its testing schedule until January.