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It was by no means the ideal result but Chris Vermeulen is now on the championship points board courtesy of a top 10 finish in the Spanish grand Prix at Jerez.
The Rizla Suzuki rider was as high as 7th before a gamble on a soft compound rear tyre  backfired.
“It was another tough race at Jerez for the second year in a row.” Vermeulen said.
“I qualified a long way back and gave myself a lot of work to do. I didn’t get a good start but I had a couple of really strong laps and got passed a few guys. I felt quite strong, the bike was working well and my pace early on was good. Towards the end of the race my rear tyre grip dropped off and I now think that perhaps we chose too soft a compound and we really suffered over the last few laps.”
It was Vermeulen’s first championship points of the year after another tyre issue in the opening race to weeks ago.
“We will learn from our mistakes and go for a harder compound next time. We are finally on the scoreboard with some points and I’m really looking forward to Estoril.”
Team manager Paul Denning added “It’s no secret we had a tough pre-season and first event at Qatar, but today’s result - a fifth for Loris and a top ten for Chris - gives us hope we can come back to a seriously competitive level in 2008.”
The championship returns in two weeks time at Estoril in Portugal, however the Rizla Suzuki team will spend the next two days testing in Spain.
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