New WSB team mates, Vermeulen and Sykes continued their pre-season shakedown schedule in Portugal.

The three day test in late January was often affected by adverse weather conditions, with the first day proving dry and sunny, then the second one wet to start and the track never quite drying. The final day eventually offered a dry track surface, but the early sessions were still damp from the previous rain.

With some of the team’s testing plans interrupted by the constant changes in track grip, both Chris and Tom still got a chance to try out their latest Showa suspension developments, and felt an improvement.

In terms of lap times Chris set a best of 1’44.108 on the final day, with Tom just behind on a 1’44.365. These times put them 14th and 15th respectively in the final rankings.

There will be one more major pre-season test for all the top riders in WSB, at Phillip Island on 21 and 22 February, shortly before the first round in Chris’s native Australia, on 28 February.

In Portimao the final calendar was announced for 2010, and Silverstone will now replace Donington as the British venue of WSB and WSS, on August 1.

Chris Vermeulen “It went quite well but we were a bit unlucky with the weather. It is great to have learned the track before we come back here to race. We have many issues, but we are definitely improving the bike. It is moving forward in the right direction. To be honest I did my best time on the standard, hard race tyre. At the end we had a small technical problem so we could not use the soft race/qualifying tyre. I hoped to be closer to the front than the gap we have now, but I think it is realistically more like one second. I think we will get there.”

Tom Sykes: “My shoulder injury was feeling bad after day one but the guys at the Clinica mobile did a good job and that has made it much better ever since then. Obviously we did a lot of work on the bike to get to the bottom of a few things. On our latest suspension there are areas where we have improved and generally there is a better feeling of what’s happening with the combination of tarmac, tyres and suspension. The feeling at the handlebars is definitely better overall, giving more direct feedback. We have progressed, but we still have some work to do. I am sure we can bring what we need to Phillip Island.”