Day of experimentation for Rizla Suzuki

Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi had much to learn on Thursday in Assen, trying out a variety of settings for the Suzuki GSV-R. The first practice session was effectively a clean slate for Capirossi, who only participated in a solitary runout last year with the bike before injuring himself in a crash.

Chris Vermeulen – 8th

"It's been great weather at Assen for the first day of practice and it gave us a good whole hour in which we could get a lot of work done. The conditions were very consistent for the session and it gave us a good opportunity to get the bike working. We tried different geometry settings between both bikes and definitely found a good direction to head with that. The mechanics worked really hard to find the best set-up today and we also tried both types of tyre - front and rear - so we know what is also working well there. We have some ideas to help the bike work well tomorrow and hopefully it will be another dry day and we'll be able to go even quicker."

Loris Capirossi – 10th

"This first practice has been quite good for us today because I didn't have a lot of information from last year as I only did one session, so it felt quite new for me here on a Suzuki. The bike was working well and we only changed a few things during the practice. I did the whole session with one front tyre and at the end when I tried to push a bit harder it started to move a bit more, but it still felt good so I'm happy with that. Overall it has been a good first day and now I want to get straight back on the bike.”