Kawasaki Racing Team rider Chris Vermeulen has now been cleared to put weight on his right leg as his recovery from a serious knee injury moves to another level. Currently in his native Australia, Vermeulen is looking to make a comeback at Kawasaki's Sepang tests in mid January, but that comeback his not been completely confirmed yet.

"I am going well," said Chris. "I started walking earlier this week and everything is going to plan. It is not easy, as I can do five or ten minutes of walking around, then I have to sit down for a while. I still have lots of physio exercises to do every day. I can swim, ride a bicycle, surf-ski in the ocean. I am in discussion with Mr Yoda-san from Kawasaki about a comeback at Sepang. For sure I will be right to ride, but at what level I can ride we do not know yet. If I am not at a level that is competitive we are discussion whether it is worth me coming back straight away or not. I would like to ride but Mr Yoda has yet to decide."

Vermeulen had his first powered two-wheel ride since July today (Tuesday), in very modest circumstances.

"I had my first ride on a motorbike today, on a little flat track circuit at my house, which has got a few left and right corners around it. Not motocross or anything like that, just a flat dirt track. I was pretty steady but it was good to get back on a bike. I only rode for about 20 minutes but I hope to ride every couple of days from now on. It wasn't actually that weird a feeling, but that was the first time I had ridden any motorbike since the Brno WSBK round."