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"I can do it! I've won 10 WSBK races before, been runner-up in the championship, and beaten most of those guys at one stage or another," said Vermeulen. "We've got a new team that's got to gel together and we've got a motorcycle we're trying to develop, so it's about putting every piece of the puzzle together to get up the front. Realistically there are 15 or 16 riders who could win a WSBK race this year - honestly. It's not going to be easy at all, and the depth is the strongest I've seen in a long time."

Vermeulen's first serious run on the Kawasaki ZX-10R was in Portugal last month, which gave him a chance to prioritize what major set-up issues had to be addressed before the start of the championship.

"Portimao was a great test for us in that we learnt a lot about the bike, even though we got a little bit unlucky with some weather. Kawasaki and Showa have developed some new parts from the information we came up with at Portimao and we are going to be testing them at Phillip Island, concentrating on things like weight transfer on the bike from braking to accelerating. They will be our priorities, and when we go into the race weekend it will be all about going as fast as we can! As for 2010, the team is not putting any pressure on me and is saying top 10 results would be great, because they haven't had a lot of them. But personally I want to be in top five consistently starting the season - I'm a racer with no patience, but that's normal. I hope we are going to be competitive at Phillip Island and in the front group challenging."