Vermeulen satisfied with second

The Australian finished a distant second to the world championship leader, but he said that he was pleased with his race.

"It was a great race and I'm very happy to be on the podium," he said. "We've been quick here most of the weekend, not quite as quick as Casey though."

The Suzuki rider said that he tried his hardest to keep up with Stoner, but he felt that the Ducati rider was just too fast for him.

"I had my head down and I was trying 100 per cent," he said. "At one point I thought I was catching him, but I must have been kidding myself.

"Five or six laps after I got into second Casey started to get away, and I looked at my pit board and saw that the gap behind me was seven or eight seconds, so we were pulling away.

"I just kept my head down in case he made a mistake or anything, but he had too much speed for us today and we'll work on that for next time."