Vermeulen hopeful of dry weather pace

Vermeulen's best practice position had been 13th place in Thursday's opening sessions, as he grappled with the set-up and a braking issue on his Rizla Suzuki.

But he was extremely happy with the bike's performance in wet qualifying, and also felt that the team had taken a step forward with their dry set-up in final practice.

"The team did a great job and the bike felt really good," said Vermeulen.

"It was easily capable of doing those lap times in those conditions - if not a bit quicker.

"In the dry this morning we made a lot of improvements and I feel confident now in any weather.

"We now have to wait and see what the weather does; it needs to be wet or dry because if it is in-between here it will be awful."

Vermeulen's teammate John Hopkins held third until the final moments of the session, when Randy de Puniet and Marco Melandri's late improvements moved the Suzuki down to fifth.

"I was happy with the all-round performance, but I'm disappointed to be just off the front row," Hopkins said.

"The conditions were pretty bad at the end and it didn't really feel safe to go any quicker than I had done, but a couple of guys hung it out there and just managed to beat my time.

"Having said that, the middle of the second row is a good place to start and we made big steps with the dry set-up this morning. This afternoon has also given me a lot of confidence and I know that if it's wet or dry I'll be trying my hardest to get the Rizla Suzuki on the podium again."

Team manager Paul Denning said that despite Hopkins' late demotion, he had still taken a step forward with his wet form.

"I feel so bad for John in missing out on the front row," said Denning.

"He put together a 20-lap run in the early part of the session and got into a great rhythm. He has increased his wet weather performances massively over the last couple of races and deserved a better result today."