Queenslander Chris Vermeulen has been forced out of the Australian round of WSBK 2011.

Queensland’s Chris Vermeulen has spoken out regarding being forced out of this weekend’s opening round of the Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island.

As reported on MotoOnline.com.au late yesterday afternoon, Vermeulen will sit out this weekend in a bid to recover from knee injuries sustained a full year ago at his home round in his return to the series.

“We decided as a team that the best thing was not race or test here at Phillip Island,” Vermeulen explained. “It is unfortunate because it is my home round and I have gone through such a long recovery already.

“It would have been nice to start off the season fit and strong but we did not want to risk any further damage to my knee. Just as importantly, I am not fit enough to compete at the top level yet so it is better to not ride at the moment.

“My knee is improving and the recovery is going to plan, so hopefully by Donington I will be ready to race again. I have nearly five weeks from now to get ready for that round.”

Following an operation to rebuild his knee last July, Vermeulen is now in the final phase of rehabilitation after such complex surgery.

However, after an evaluation prior to the current official IMS test sessions at Phillip Island confirmed that he still has to achieve the final few degrees of bend in his knee joint to regain 100 percent of his race fitness.

Riding his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R at race pace now would aggravate the knee and almost certainly delay his full recovery, now aiming at returning to action at the re-introduced Donington Park round at the end of March.

Akira Yanagawa will replace Vermeulen for the Phillip Island tests and the team will concentrate their full efforts for race weekend on Chris’s fellow regular KRT riders, Tom Sykes and Joan Lascorz.