Vermeulen rues misted visor

The Rizla Suzuki rider was up to third in the early stages of the race and, after his maiden win at Le Mans, he looked set for another strong showing this time out.

However, an increasingly misted visor led to him hitting trouble before a late-race recovery allowed him to overtake Valentino Rossi and take third place.

"The start wasn't too bad, I started in 12th so it wasn't easy, but I got through quite quickly," said Vermeulen. "I got up to third, I was right behind Colin (Edwards) when he was behind Dani (Pedrosa), and I was quite comfortable sitting there.

"But I was having a little bit of a problem with my helmet. I was getting hot inside and my sweat was making my visor fog, and I thought I had to do something here. So I was playing around with it.

"I couldn't get it clear and I was having trouble seeing. Then when Casey (Stoner) went past he apologised because he thought he had run me off the track, but I could not see where I was. I was alright and I got going again.

"When the rain stopped I opened my visor up so no rain was going to come in, and then it cleared a lot. That was when I could start going quick again. I was kind of worried that it was going to rain all race and I couldn't see where I was going to go - and I would run off and hit a fence or something."

After overtaking Rossi near the end of the race, Vermeulen briefly thought he could even catch and pass Edwards but realised the American was too quick for him.

"At the end I caught Valentino and I could see he was having a lot of trouble with the rear tyre. He was spinning a lot, and I wanted to definitely try and get on the podium of course.

"I got through him and I expected him to come back past me, but I managed to gap him enough. Then at the end I saw Colin and thought I might be able to get him, but he was too quick."