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Suzuki extends contracts Capirossi and Vermeulen

The Suzuki Motor Corporation announced on Friday that it came to an agreement with both Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi to extend their contracts for 2009.

Capirossi joined Suzuki at the end of 2007 and has shown throughout the 2008 season that his energy and enthusiasm for racing are still as high as ever. Indeed, his desire to compete for Suzuki at the highest level of motorcycle racing has seen him race this season with serious injuries that would have side-lined many other riders. Capirossi's wealth of knowledge and experience has been invaluable to the development of the Suzuki GSV-R during this year, both in a racing and developmental role, and he is determined to turn Suzuki's 800cc prototype machine into a race-winning bike during the remainder of 2008 and through 2009.

Vermeulen joined Suzuki at the Valencia test in 2005 - having finished as runner-up in the World Superbike Championship that year - and made his racing debut at Jerez in 2006. He achieved his first pole-position in Turkey that year and followed up with his debut podium in Suzuki colours at his home Grand Prix in Australia later that same season. Vermeulen then created history for Suzuki by becoming the first winner for the famous Japanese marque in the four-stroke era, when he raced to a stunning wet-weather victory at Le Mans in France in 2007 - a season that also saw him take three further podiums, one pole-position and two front-row starts. So far in 2008 Vermeulen has had back-to-back podiums in Germany and America and currently sits in sixth place in the riders' championship.

Loris Capirossi commented on the new deal: "I am delighted to be staying with Suzuki for another season. I have really enjoyed my short time here and know we are making progress and can be on top again. The management has shown faith in me - even though I have not been at my best due to my injuries - and now I must start to re-pay them for their belief in me and to committing to me a further season. I still have unfinished business in MotoGP and on the Suzuki, I still have podiums, pole positions and race wins in me and I believe that I can achieve that with this team. I want to finish my career with Suzuki and I want to do that in style!"

Chris Vermeulen said: "I'm extremely happy to be staying with the Suzuki team, it is a factory and squad that I know well and respect enormously. Over the last three years there has been big progress with both the machine and with my level as a rider. Suzuki was my entry into Grand Prix racing, I have been here for three years and won a GP - and been on podium many times - so I am really pleased to be continuing this relationship. I had offers from other teams, but I always felt that I wanted to stay with Suzuki if we could get the terms agreed so that everyone was happy. Luckily we were able to do that, so now I can get on with trying to win more races and help Suzuki get to a World Championship challenging level."

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