The official Kawasaki Racing Team commenced its first 2011 tests today at Sepang in Malaysia, giving Chris Vermeulen his first chance to ride the all-new Ninja ZX-10R, alongside his KRT team-mates Tom Sykes and Joan Lascorz. Although familiar with the new bike already, this was a first ride at this particular track for Tom and Joan.

Vermeulen is an old hand at lapping the Sepang circuit, but he only did a few laps compared to the others, to get his body used to the rigours of track action once again. Said Chris, who has only recently started walking and riding again after a knee rebuild operation last summer.

"I eased into it today and only did a limited number of laps, over three separate runs. I stopped before lunch today and then the rains came later in the afternoon, but we will go out again tomorrow. The new bike feels really good. The last bike I rode around Sepang was a GP machine, so to be impressed with this motorbike already shows it is a very good start. All the guys have done a great job in developing it. I was happy to come away with that positive impression, even after a relatively short number of laps so far. Right now I cannot quite bend my knee enough when going round right hand corners, but my knee has improved a lot over the last couple of weeks. Everything in the recovery of my knee is going to plan, and in fact I am quite a bit ahead of what the doctors expected. My muscle growth is good, particularly considering I have only been walking for three weeks."

The Pedercini Kawasaki team was also testing at Sepang and the action will continue on track tomorrow, with a rest day scheduled for the 12th, before the tests complete on the 13th and 14th.