The third round of the 2010 Hannspree World Superbike Championship gets underway at Valencia in Spain this forthcoming weekend with the Kawasaki Racing Team making an enforced change to their regular line up.

With Chris Vermeulen still recovering from his knee injuries sustained in the opening round at Phillip Island, the Paul Bird Motorsport Team has drafted in BSB star Simon Andrews as a replacement for the Australian this weekend.

The 26-year-old from Evesham will join regular teamster Tom Sykes whereby the 24-year-old Yorkshireman is hoping to continue his points scoring form which saw him rack up a pair of top fifteen finishes last time out in Portugal and Andrews, who has already tested with the team, is confident he can put in a good performance on the factory Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R.

Chris Vermeulen:

"I had keyhole surgery on my right knee on Friday by a renowned surgeon called Dr Claes in Belgium. He cut out some damaged meniscus and tidied up some damaged ligaments and this should speed up the recovery time and help with gaining back more movement in my right knee. The knee will not be 100% even after this surgery because I have done some major damage to it after the Phillip Island crash but I do not have four to six months recovery time for a complete reconstruction which I will no doubt need later on. The major damage should not affect me on the bike once I have recovered from the small operation and I have more strength back in my leg. However I will have to change my training routine to include a lot more work on a bicycle and in a pool because I won't be able to run for some time. Unfortunately I missed last week's test at Valencia and will now miss the Valencia race also but at this stage I am working hard on being fit for Assen. I will be wishing the team the best of luck for this weekend."


Tom Sykes:

"Straight after the Portimao race we had a two-day test at Valencia where I did a lot of laps and tried a number of new things on the ZX-10R. We were happy enough with the test and have come away with further understanding of the bike and a good base setting for the race. We were a bit unlucky with the weather during the test as it was really windy and the track temperature was a bit cold, so lap times weren't so comparable to the race from last year, but we have continued to move forward and progress and I'm feeling very optimistic and positive about the weekend ahead. It's unfortunate that we will be missing Chris once again for this race but the team and I will be giving our best so we can hopefully claw back some valuable points."


Simon Andrews:

"I'm delighted to be given an opportunity to race for the Kawasaki Racing Team and am really looking forward to the weekend. I had a good test with the team recently and get on well with everyone so I'm confident of a good result as the bike is great. It's very flattering also to know that the team and factory are looking to me to help achieve some good results so I plan to reward them as best I can."



Television Coverage (British Eurosport 2 unless stated)

Saturday 10th April

14.00 - 15.00 Superpole LIVE
16.30 - 17.30 Superpole Highlights
17.00 - 17.30 Superstock 600 LIVE
22.55 - 23.55 Superpole Highlights (British Eurosport)


Sunday 11th April

08.30 - 09.30 Superpole Highlights
09.30 - 15.30 Superstock 1000, WSB and World Supersport LIVE
20.45 - 22.15 Superstock 1000, WSB and World Supersport Highlights


British Eurosport is available in the UK on Sky channel 410 and Virgin Media channel 521 or British Eurosport 2 available on Sky 411 and Virgin Media 525. Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player.