Vermeulen retreats to Superbikes ROBERT GRANT October 3, 2009 - 2:24PM . Australian MotoGP race winner Chris Vermeulen is headed back to the sanctuary of the World Superbike Championship. The factory Suzuki rider has penned a two-year deal to ride for Kawasaki in the series from next season. The contract was finalised after Vermeulen met Kawasaki boss Ichiro Yoda in Estoril on the eve of the Portuguese Grand Prix. He has agreed to ride a Kawasaki ZX-10R for Paul Bird Motorsport. Vermeulen said he was sold on the deal after being convinced that Kawasaki, after languishing at the back of the grid, was preparing an all-out assault on the superbike title. "It's a really good deal and I'm excited about joining Kawasaki from the technical point of view, to race and develop the bike next year an then go out on the new bike for 2011," Vermeulen told motorcyclenews.com. "World Superbikes is going to be their main project, they are pulling out of MotoGP and they will not be running an AMA (American Superbike) team nor a team in the Australian Superbike championship. "This WSB program is where all their engineers and budget will be focused. "They haven't won in WSB for a long time and they really want to win races. "The financial backing and resources is very good for this project," he said. Vermeulen is the second high-profile rider to confirm a return to World Superbikes this week following news that Briton James Toseland will move to Yamaha. Toseland was dropped by the Tech 3 MotoGP squad in favour of American Ben Spies. Paul Bird Motorsport is currently fielding Newcastle's Broc Parkes and Japan's Makota Tamada in this year's championship, but the results have been poor. Vermeulen will be replaced in Suzuki's MotoGP squad by Spaniard Alvaro Bautista in 201
