Any active World Superbike pilot knows the sound of bodywork grinding across tarmac into crash-zone pea gravel; it's a horrible noise, no matter how minor the crash. That's the sound Ten Kate Honda rider Chris Vermeulen heard as he tumbled through a crash zone at the Imola circuit last weekend. His chances for winning the 2004 World Superbike Title tumbled along with him. Or did they?

Going into the second race at round 10 in the 11-race series, Vermeulen held a single-point lead in the championship over the Fila-backed factory Ducati pilot Regis Laconi, who narrowly beat Vermeulen in race one. In that race, Vermeulen held a small gap over eventual race winner Laconi and seemed to be on his way to the win. Laconi was able to capitalize on what later would be described by Vermeulen as a brake issue that caused him to slip into second in the latter stages of the race. Anyone who saw race one and knew of Vermeulen's equipment woes were anxious to see race two, anticipating another race-long duel between Frenchman Laconi and Aussie Vermeulen, with a greater possibility of Vermeulen being able to hold off the advances of his rival this time around.

That battle never materialized. But, that's not to say race two wasn't an interesting battle.

As the riders sat on the grid prior to the warm-up lap, the Ten Kate crew discovered a problem with Vermeulen's CBR1000RR and quickly switched to his B bike. This initially came with little drama, as many of the top teams in the series are well prepared for this sort of eventuality, except this time there was one apparent problem. For whatever reason, it seems that the tires on Vermeulen's B bike weren't properly warmed prior to its entry to the racecourse for the warm-up lap. It's unknown if Vermeulen was aware of the lack of heat in his spec Pirelli's or not, but what happened next was a spectacle never seen by many a seasoned viewer of motorcycle roadracing. As Vermeulen negotiated the Tamburello section of the circuit, just a few turns from the start/finish line where he had swapped machines, he high-sided in spectacular fashion, landing on his right side. He appeared injured as he got up, seeing his championship hopes dashed in the blink of an eye.

Here's where it gets bizarre. As Vermeulen stood in the crash zone, a stationary rider appeared at track's edge. It seemed as if he wanted to give the dejected and injured Vermeulen a ride back to the pits, increasing the rider's likelihood of scoring some much-needed points--not an everyday occurrence in the WSC ranks. Maybe it was his Aussie teammate Broc Parkes, looking to be a team player? The Ten Kate bosses would appreciate that. Not so by a long shot.

It was Italian rider Giovanni Bussei on his DeCecco Racing Ducati. An Italian Ducati rider is looking to assist an Aussie Honda rider? It doesn't get much more bizarre than that in WSC.

To Vermeulen, Bussei must have appeared as an angel on two wheels, blipping his throttle as he waited trackside for the injured rider to hobble to him. Vermeulen took Bussei up on his offer, his only chance back to the pits and get on a bike to stay in the points. Vermeulen eagerly plopped his sore backside on the rigid carbon fiber tail section of Bussei's 998RS, and the two made their way back to the start/finish line. As mentioned before, Vermeulen had crashed only a few turns from start/finish and now the pair would have to ride two-up, nearly all the way round the
circuit. Not an easy task for rider or passenger, but worth the effort, for sure. As they made their way around the circuit, they drew a few double-takes from other riders, especially from those not seeing the incident that prompted the odd pairing.

As they pulled up to starting grid, Bussei made his way to his stall in the second row where Vermeulen hopped off and the extent of his injuries became more evident. He hopped on his left leg all the way to the side of the track, his right foot never touching the ground. Vermeulen was assisted over the high pitwall by his Ten Kate crewmembers. They had the battered Aussie's A bike readied for him; the pre-race technical issue had apparently been remedied during the warm-up lap fiasco.

As the starting lights turned green for the 21-lap event, 27 of the 28 riders went into turn one led by Laconi.

Race officials held Vermeulen until the last rider on the hot pit made it to the first corner. At that point, Vermeulen was allowed to depart from his pit lane starting position, 20 seconds down from the leaders. Vermeulen was back in the race, but dead last by a large margin.

From that point, he put on a come-from-behind charge, picking off WSC regulars as if they were club racers. On lap three alone, he passed four riders and was up to 22nd place. On lap four, he moved into 19th, four spots out of the points. Lap five saw more movement through the pack, with the young Aussie moving into 17th place. Vermeulen was now the fastest rider on the track by over a second: Romboni, Bussei, and Haslam were within striking distance.

Lap six saw 14th-place Bussei summoned to serve a stop-and-go penalty for his warm-up lap goodwill gesture. On the same lap, 13th place Frankie Chili crashed out of the race, thus advancing Vermeulen to 15th, the last point-paying position. Quite a feat under the circumstances, but if he were to keep his chances for the championship crown intact, he would need to do a lot more. On Lap seven, Vermeulen passed Italian rider Doriano Romboni for 14th.

At the front, Toseland, Laconi, and Haga had a battle royal going until the throttle on Haga's Renegade Ducati stuck open going into Acque Minerale on Lap nine, causing him to crash out of the lead he inherited just a few laps prior. Toseland narrowly avoided Haga as he slid down the track next to his fallen machine.

During that drama, Vermeulen continued his charge to the front, with Haga's departure aiding his push toward the front. He was now up to 10th and chasing Troy Corser and Ivan Clementi who were half a second ahead. On lap 12, he passed both Corser and Clementi, and moved to 8th position, now putting in laps a full two seconds faster than the leaders. At that point, there were five seconds between Vermeulen and 7th place Borciani--a gap he halved within a lap, eventually passing Borciani on Lap 14. Vermeulen now had Ducati rider Pedercini within 5 seconds.

On Lap 16, he cut the gap to 2.2 seconds. He eventually passed the Italian rider and moved into 7th place on Lap 17. Vermeulen now had four laps to catch 5th place Garry McCoy, who was only 1.5 seconds ahead, but the Ten Kate Honda rider only managed to close within 1.1 seconds of his fellow countryman's Xerox Ducati at the checkered flag--a remarkable feat considering most racers who crash on the warm-up lap usually wind up watching the race on the monitor or making their way to the airport.

In the end, Vermeulen pulled himself out of the pea gravel, and riding injured, soldiered his way to sixth place, leaving Imola with 282 points. Good enough for third place in the points standings behind Toseland with 291 and series leader Laconi at 295.

Vermeulen still has a chance to capture the 2004 World Superbike title in the series' final round this weekend in Magny-Cours, France.