Vermeulen in peak fitness

CHRIS Vermeulen is in the best shape of his life. And that's not just the Suzuki team's number-one MotoGP rider boasting; that's the assessment of the team's physiotherapist.

"I had a fitness test after testing in Malaysia and the team physio said I'm the fittest I've been and the fittest Suzuki rider he's ever seen," the Sunshine Coast rider said yesterday.

Vermeulen had six weeks off after the end of last season which he spent on his Yandina cattle property.

"I did a lot of fitness training then as well as working on my cars," said Vermeulen who has a couple of classic American pick-ups and sedans.

"I did a lot of running, surf skiing with ironman Rhys Drury, motocross and mountain biking."

Last week he tested at Phillip Island, finishing about a second behind world champion Casey Stoner who broke the lap record on his Ducati.

"Phillip Island has always been a trouble track for us and to be on the pace, except for Casey, is pretty good," he said.

"I was also happy with our testing at Malaysia where we didn't use qualifying tyres.

"Suzuki has been working hard and, with a bit of consistency, we have the package to win this year."

Vermeulen said Stoner was not the only one who was going to be fast this season.

"There are 10 riders who could win the first race, there are three other Ducatis which are fast and Valentino (Rossi) is on a mission now that he has Bridgestone tyres."

On Friday, Vermeulen heads to Jerez in Spain for testing next week, then tests under lights at Doha in Bahrain for the first round of the championship on March 10 which will be the first nighttime race.

"I'm looking forward to it, but the main problem will not be visibility, it will be track temperature.

"At night in the desert it can get down to about 10 degrees ambient temperature and the same track temperature.

"Bridgestone is developing a tyre for that race now, but if they don't work, we're stuck with it."