Rizla Suzuki wild card rider Ben Spies (Photo: Suzuki Racing) » More Photos

Vermeulen is Suzuki’s only race winner in the 4-stroke MotoGP era and has scored seven podiums so far in three seasons. And in the 30 races since the introduction of the 800cc class in 2007, Vermeulen is third on overall points (299) with only Casey Stoner (554) and Valentino Rossi (439) ahead after the San Marino GP.

Two days before the Misano race team boss Fausto Gresini thought he was very close to signing Vermeulen having formalized an offer that included the supply of HRC factory support.

Although there has been no formal announcement it is certain that Vermeulen will race alongside Loris Capirossi again in 2009.

“I’m very happy with the way things are progressing at Suzuki. There are still some paperwork details to finish off but I expect Suzuki will be making something official around the Indianapolis race,” Vermeulen said.

Vermeulen has often spoken of his plan to remain with a full factory team because of the level of technical support but sources close to the Gresini offer say that Vermeulen was greatly tempted by a factory Honda.

The one downside is that HRC have a policy of having multiple levels of 'factory bikes' and there would no guarantee that Vermeulen would get the same bikes as Honda number one Dani Pedrosa.

Having missed Vermeulen, Gresini must look further down his long list of candidates as a replacement. That list includes Spies, Sete Gibernau, and Toni Elias.