Australian Chris Vermeulen has continued his love affair with Laguna Seca in the United States, claiming another podium finish in the MotoGP US Grand Prix today.

In front of almost 50,000 fans, Vermeulen was third for the second week in a row, as the world championship moved to California.

“It’s the second race in a row on the podium so it’s a big step, a big boost for the team to be up here in the dry conditions.” Vermeulen said.

The Rizla Suzuki rider played a bit part in one of the classic races, as Valentino Rossi downed Vermeulen’s countryman Casey Stoner to maintain his lead in the championship.

Vermeulen’s record at Laguna Seca is outstanding. Two wins in his Superbike days, a runners up effort last year, followed by his podium today, cements his place as one of the world’s top riders.

“Obviously Laguna Seca I like. I was second here last year. Unfortunately today we didn’t have the pace of the front two guys. After practice I thought maybe I could race with them or be a lot closer than we were but we didn’t have the pace today. We’ll see how we go in Brno.

“No one is slow out there. There are 18 fast and talented riders. It was hard starting from the third row of the grid and trying to come through. It’s not an easy track to pass on and when you do make a pass a lot of the times you run wide, but once I got past Nicky Hayden, to be honest, it was pretty boring for me. I just rode around on my own, but we got home and we are on the podium, so a good race.”  He added.

 The third place finish was Suzuki’s second podium result of the year and has given the team a mighty boost going into the European summer break.

“Being on the podium now in the dry proves we have made some steps with the bike and we want to continue that. I think we are going to a couple of tracks that will suit the bike, some more tracks I like, Brno and Misano, and hopefully we can fight for some more podiums there.”  

The MotoGP World Championship returns to American shores in September, when the “Brickyard” at Indianapolis hosts its first ever round of the premier motorcycle class.

Meantime the world championship resumes in the Czech Republic at Brno in twenty five days time.