Chris Vermeulen

Chris Vermeulen (born 19 June 1982) is an Australian motorcycle racer. He currently rides in WSBK for the Ten Kate Honda team, and will finish 2nd in the championship behind veteran countryman Troy Corser.

In 1999 he raced in the Australian Superbike Championship, depsite only having done a handful of professional races beforehand. He took his Yamaha to 8th in the championship, with a best result of 4th, and the privateer championship for non-factory riders. His mentor Barry Sheene then arranged rides for him in Britain in their Supersport and Superstock classes, and success in these gave him his World Supersport break with Castrol Honda.

Initial success in a few late-2000 races did not translate into a successful 2001, as he only managed a single top 5 finish. However, it was for 2002 that he first linked up with Dutch team owner Henk Ten Kate, taking his first poles and podiums en route to 7th in the championship. He became the team's lead rider for 2003, and was comfortably series champion with four victories.

When Ten Kate arranged a deal to run a Honda Fireblade in World Superbikes for 2004, Chris was the natural choice to ride it. The team did their own development on the bike (in its first test they still used a road-bike clutch), but he won four races and briefly lead the championship before finishing 4th, as the only non-Ducati in the top 8. For 2005 the championship has many Yamaha and Suzuki bikes, as well as 4 more Hondas include a second Ten Kate entry for Karl Muggeridge, but Chris has continued to record victories, and took his first pole at Assen in Holland, the country in which his Grandfather was born. Victory in the first race at Imola took him to within 55 points of Corser's lead, but the cancellation of the second race due to heavy rain meant that only 50 points were still available from the remaining round's 2 races.