Apparently Vermeulen turned down a ride with the Camel Pons team for the full factory effort of Suzuki.
I think he should have taken the Camel ride for one year
and then moved up to the full factory Honda team if his results justified it. Just my $.02
From
www.SpeedTV.com
UPDATE: Vermeulen Turned Down Camel Honda Pons Ride for Factory Suzuki
Written by: Dennis Noyes
Borrego Springs, CA – 10/27/2005 Chris Vermeulen heads to a factory Suzuki ride in MotoGP after turning down a satellite Honda ride.
World Superbike runner-up Chris Vermeulen played hardball with HRC and, although Honda blinked, the young Australian refused to consider the compromise of a Camel Honda Pons ride in MotoGP for 2006.
After five years in the FIM Supersport/Superbike World Championships, winning the World Supersport title in 2003 and taking second this year in World Superbike, Vermeulen demanded a full factory MotoGP ride from HRC.
His demands were backed up by credible performances in his two replacement rides on the Pons RC211V at Phillip Island and Istanbul where he was eleventh in both races, beating factory Honda rider Max Biaggi in Turkey. Honda wanted the 23-year-old to spend one more year with the Winston Ten Kate World Superbike team and then move to MotoGP in 2007, but Vermeulen had an offer from the Suzuki factory team for 2006.
Honda stepped up, then, to offer the possibility of a ride on the Camel Honda Pons team, but Vermeulen had been advised by Mick Doohan that in MotoGP he needed to be on a full factory bike if he ever wanted to win a title.
HRC could not offer this, especially for 2006. Next year Honda, although final plans have not been announced, will run American Nicky Hayden and Spanish 250 World Champion Dani Pedrosa on the full-factory Repsol Honda team and seem to be moving toward lending additional support to Italian Marco Melandri out of the Gresini Honda team where Melandri is currently riding as team mate of Spain’s Sete Gibernau.
Gibernau is very close to confirming a deal with Ducati for 2006 after refusing an offer from Honda to continue in Fausto Gresini’s team.
Vermeulen’s place was immediately snapped up by former World Superbike Champion James Toseland. Toseland was dropped by the Xerox Ducati team along with his team mate Regis Laconi and was considered by Ducati Corse for a ride alongside another Englishman and former World Superbike Champion Neil Hodgson, but preferred to stay in World Superbike and found a strong ride on the Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR.
As he imagined would happen, Honda have cancelled Vermeulen’s ride on the Pons Honda at Valencia. The man Vermeulen was replacing, fellow Australian and former World Superbike Champion Troy Bayliss has been declared fit by doctors after breaking his wrist on a motocross bike just prior to the Japanese Grand Prix and will be back for his final ride on the yellow RC211V. Bayliss has signed with Ducati Corse to ride a factory 999F06 in the 2007 World Superbike Championship.