Description
Additional photos of these Chris Vermeulen signed leathers are available here for your perusal.
Chris Vermeulen had a long career in professional motorcycle racing which began in his home country with the Australian Superbike Championship, paving the way for a move to Europe to compete in World Superbikes with Ten Kate riding a Honda CBR1000RR before eventually scoring a factory ride in MotoGP with Suzuki.
While Suzuki has achieved incredible success in MotoGP as of late with Joan Mir securing the world championship in 2020 and his teammate Alex Rins taking many podiums, Suzuki struggled to compete early on with the introduction of four strokes to MotoGP. In 2006, Chris Vermeulen was paired alongside American John Hopkins on the GSV-R and finished just behind him in the championship in 11th place with a podium finish at his home GP at Phillip Island. 2007 ushered in the new 800cc engines and Vermeulen had a stunning victory in the wet (Suzuki’s first win of the four stroke era) at Le Mans in France.
Later in the 2007 season Vermeulen achieved more success on the Suzuki with a solid 2nd place result at Laguna Seca and a further second place finish in Misano with Hopkins just behind him in third for a Suzuki double podium!. 2008 found Suzuki struggling again with neither Vermeulen or new teammate Loris Capirossi securing a victory. A pair of third places finishes in Germany and the United States would be the best results for the year.
Chris Vermeulen would continue to ride for Suzuki on the factory team through 2009 before returning to World Superbikes for 2010. This set of Berik leathers are from his 2008 season and are in the now classic Rizla livery. The leathers have been signed by Chris.
This auction also includes a Shoei Vermeulen helmet that has a 2008 date code and also an original Rizla team hat.
The helmet has been signed as well.
There is a chip in left rear area of the helmet.
Currently located at our facility in Santa Monica, California (please make an appointment for an inspection), these leathers/helmet/hat are offered on a bill of sale only. Have any Vermeulen stories or questions about this listing? Let us know in the comments!
