Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s Andrew Pitt rode to fifth place in today’s fifth round World Supersport championship race at Monza in Italy, which was won by Cal Crutchlow.

Starting from seventh place on the grid, Pitt battled hard with the other leading riders in the early stages of the 16-lap race around the iconic 5.8km Monza circuit. However, Pitt slipped back at the Parabolic turn on lap seven and was unable to get back into contention for podium honours.

His Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Kenan Sofuoglu, took his CBR600RR to ninth place at the flag after struggling with corner entry and exit issues. The Turkish ace, who won the opening race of the season at Phillip Island, is confident of improvements for round six, however, which takes place at Kyalami in South Africa next Sunday.


Andrew Pitt - 5th

The bike was actually really good at the start of the race - the balance of the chassis felt fine and I was able to push at the front with the others. But, as the race progressed, it became clear that we were really over-working the rear tyre. I had problems controlling the bike into and out of turns, especially the entry. In the end I was having to use the gearbox to slow down because if I used the brakes too much, the rear would just want to come round and overtake me. We're definitely going in the right direction with the new bike, though, and just need to work on the rear setting a little to get a result next week.

[...]

Ronald ten Kate – team manager

It’s been a challenging weekend for us again here at Monza, but we can take a positive from the fact that, during the first half of the race, Andrew’s bike felt OK for him – something we could see from the way he was riding. We can use his data to prepare for next weekend’s race in Kyalami, because it’s about time that we start to bring home some results if we want to play an active role in the outcome of this championship.



2009 World Supersport championship, found five – Monza, Italy
Results (5.793km, 16 laps):
1 Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Yamaha 29’34.605s
2 Joan Lascorz (ESP) Kawasaki +2.660s
3 Fabien Foret (FRA) Yamaha +2.716s
4 Eugene Laverty (IRL) Honda +2.780s
5 Andrew Pitt (AUS) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +9.270s
9 Kenan Sofuoglu (TUR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +22.681s

Championship standings after four of 14 rounds:
Crutchlow 99, Laverty 81, Sofuoglu 72, Pitt 54, Anthony West (AUS) Honda 52, Lascorz 47