Vermeulen yet to decide on future plans

The Australian, who took his maiden victory at Le Mans earlier this year and was on pole position for last weekend's Dutch GP, has several offers from rival teams on the table as he ponders whether to extend his Suzuki deal.

When asked by autosport.com what his future plans were, Vermeulen said: " I don't know yet. I haven't done anything yet.

"I am very interested in staying where I am with Suzuki, we are talking there, and they are very interested in keeping me. Well, that's what they say at the moment anyway.

"But I have had a couple of other offers from different manufacturers and my goal next year is to be on a factory bike. It is important with the way the 800s are developing to be with a factory team and not a private team, so I have had a couple of different offers and I am weighing things up.

"From my point of view it is not the dollars and cents that is going to sell the deal. It is me getting on a bike that I think will give me the best chance of winning races on."

Vermeulen says he is in no rush to accept any of the offers he has been made, and makes it clear that his priority is in improving Suzuki's form.

"I've got offers on paper, so they are there. Basically, I am waiting on a final decision from Suzuki on what they are doing - their technical plans, their goals for the future and what they have got in the pipeline.

"But I am not in too much of a rush. My goal at the moment is to concentrate on what we are doing. Things are going reasonably well. We have got some problems with the bike and other things, but we are working on it and will concentrate on the season."