Australia’s Chris Vermeulen has endured another disappointing weekend at the Brno round of the World Superbike Championship in the Czech Republic.

After re-injuring his left elbow in a Friday morning practice crash, Vermeulen qualified for the main event in 20th position on his Kawasaki Racing Team machine.

Race one saw the Aussie try to push through the pain barrier for an 18th place finish, the second half of the race proving almost too much for the injured elbow.

“We have been struggling all weekend since the crash on Friday morning. I did warm-up and I said to the team I would be OK to race but 20 laps together was really hard. For the last eight I was riding around to just finish,” Vermeulen stated.

After limping to the finish in the first race, Vermeulen and the team decided it was not worth lining up for race two.

“My elbow had really swollen up and my back was sore after Friday. Together with the team we took the decision not to take any more risks and not ride in race two.”

Vermeulen now resides at 20th place in the World Superbike standings with five rounds left to race in the series.