Vermeulen on front row at Donington in strong Suzuki showing

Rizla Suzuki´s Chris Vermeulen put his GSV-R on the front row of the grid for the first time this season at the bwin.com British Grand Prix on Saturday and the affable Australian was understandably in an upbeat mood, after bouncing back from a morning crash in free practice.

Again showing his class as one of MotoGP´s best wet weather riders, Vermeulen completed an all-Bridgestone front three behind Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi and will be hopeful of repeating his 2007 Donington Park podium finish in Sunday´s race - whether it rains again or not.

Reacting to the qualifying result, Vermeulen commented, `I am actually hoping for dry tomorrow. This place is really, really slippery in the wet and this morning I actually had a big off on turn one. I have to say a big thanks to the Rizla Suzuki crew, because they gave me a great bike and it was working really well. These guys (Stoner and Rossi) were still just a bit to quick for us today though!´

Meanwhile, Rizla Suzuki´s MotoGP Team Manager Paul Denning added, `I am really pleased that Chris has made the front row. The crash this morning was not an ideal way to prepare for qualifying and he was able to put that behind him and do a really solid job this afternoon. Well done to him and the crew on the front row result, it was well deserved and puts Chris in good shape for tomorrow.´