Vermeulen struggling ahead of Portugese WSBK

Chris Vermeulen is racing against time to be fit for round two of the Superbike World Championship in Portugal this weekend.

The Queenslander is still recovering from a catalogue of injuries sustained in round one at Phillip Island on February 28, which included torn medial and posterior cruciate ligaments after crashes in both races.

However, the 27-year-old will still embark on the 30-hour flight to  Portimao with some optimism, and believes that some intensive last-minute physiotherapy may be enough to get him on the grid.

"My knee is improving each day but at the moment I cannot bend it enough to sit on a bike so I'm hoping by race weekend I will be able to," said Vermeulen.

"I did quite a bit of damage to my right knee in the crash at Phillip Island with five tears of ligaments, cartilage and muscle. I still have some swelling in the area, and pain and limited movement in my knee joint.

"I haven't been able to do any physical exercise since the crash but I do train very hard and know I will have a good base fitness level to move forward."

Although Phillip Island was ultimately a disaster for Vermeulen, he was still delighted with the speed he showed on the factory Kawasaki, and believes Portimao will suit his machine.

"I really enjoyed the Portimao circuit which I first rode around in the test earlier this year. It's exciting to ride with the undulations and blind corners and we were reasonably competitive on the ZX-10R," said Vermeulen.

"I think this circuit will suit the bike. The challenge for Portimao is to be in the top 10 but our goal is to be hopefully even higher up."

Briton Leon Haslam (Suzuki) leads the title by 9pts after recording his maiden WSBK win at Phillip Island, ahead of Michel Fabrizio (Ducati), Carlos Checa (Ducati) and Noriyuki Haga (Ducati).

Australia's Troy Corser (Wollongong) is in eighth position, after making a quantum leap in set-up in race two at Phillip Island.

"If the bike works like it did in race two in Australia, I think we can be relatively confident about our chances," said Corser.

"We had an extensive test at Portimão back in January. The circuit is technically very challenging with several uphill and quite steep downhill sections. I just now hope we can use Australia as a benchmark and kick on from here."

Kempsey's Andrew Pitt (Team Reitwagen BMW) is hoping for further improvement at Portimao.  At Phillip Island, Pitt's machine was really only a lightly modified streetbike after his team's late start to the season, and he's confident he will be a real threat once the real development kicks in.

"I ran a few laps together with Max Biaggi and (his team-mate) Leon Camier at Phillip Island, and it was interesting because there were only a couple of areas where they were better. If we can improve in these areas then we really could begin to surprise a few people," said Pitt.

Newcastle's Broc Parkes remains on the sideline after breaking his tibia pre-season, and South Africa's Sheridan Morais will take his place on the Echo Honda for round two, and possibly round three.

In the official pre-season test at Portimao - which became an instant classic when it joined the WSBK calendar in 2008 - Briton Jonathan Rea was the fastest on his Honda ahead of compatriots Haslam, Shane Byrne (Ducati) and Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha). Fabrizio, the lap record holder, rounded out the top five.

Fabrizio and eventual world champion Ben Spies shared race wins at the 4.592km circuit last year, while in 2008 Australian Troy Bayliss scored an emphatic clean sweep in his WSBK swansong.

Other riders to watch at Portimao this weekend will include Max Biaggi (Aprilia) and 2007 WSBK champion James Toseland (Yamaha), who will be desperate to prove his underwhelming performance at Phillip Island was just an aberration.

In world supersport, the classy firm of Eugene Laverty (Honda), Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) and Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki) should be dictating terms from the front.

Laverty humbled the field with a brilliant first-up win at Philip Island.

There will be live coverage from Portimao on Fox Sports 2 at 9.30pm Sunday, and a highlights package on SBS at 12.30pm on April 4.

WORLD SUPERBIKE STANDINGS (AFTER ROUND ONE OF 13):
1 Leon Haslam, Great Britain, Suzuki 45pts
2 Michel Fabrizio, Italy, Ducati 36
3 Carlos Checa, Spain, Ducati 34
4 Noriyuki Haga, Japan, Ducati 27
5= Sylvain Guintoli, France, Suzuki 23
5= Jonathan Rea, Great Britain 23
7 Max Biaggi, Italy, Aprilia 19
8 Troy Corser, Australia, BMW 16
9 Leon Camier, Great Britain, Aprilia 10
10 Lorenzo Lanzi, Italy, Ducati 9
17 Andrew Pitt, Australia, BMW 2