Team

About Andrew

Andrew Pitt, 34, started racing dirt track at 10 years of age before graduating to motocross at 15. In 1993, Andrew’s high school principal, a former road racer, took Andrew to spectate at a road racing meeting at Oran Park Raceway, NSW, and Andrew knew that was where he wanted to be.

Andrew started road racing at 17 finishing runner-up in the Australian 250cc production championship. He then moved up the classes and eventually secured an overall second ranking in the Australian Supersport championship in 1998. He went on to win the national Supersport Championship one year later, and earned second in the Superbike class. Australia was clearly getting too small for Pitt’s expanding talents and the rider from the Gold Coast accepted an offer to ride for the factory Kawasaki World Supersport team in 2000. He posted good results in some races but finishing tenth overall was not in his pre-season plan, and he put his hard-won track knowledge to the best possible use in 2001. Despite not quite winning an individual race in either of those first two WSS seasons, he took the championship itself in 2001, after a dramatic final day of action at Imola.

Finishing his 2002 WSS season fifth Pitt made the leap to MotoGP earlier than he thought, as a replacement for an injured Kawasaki rider in the last races of that same year.

In 2003 he was given a full MotoGP season but found the factory Kawasaki four-stroke unable to match his ultimate ambitions and the reality of the situation saw him finish 26th overall, scoring points in only three races.

Pitt’s hard-won MotoGP experience was transferred to the Moriwaki Honda team in testing and three races during the 2004 season, but the project was finally shelved. A few wild card rides for the official Yamaha World Supersport team in 2004 placed him overall 12th but his positive approach to the job was more than enough to earn him two seasons of full WSB competition for the lead Yamaha team.

Pitt grabbed his opportunity tightly and scored a final placing of 8th in WSB in 2005. His first race win in this class helped him to fifth in 2006, but once more fate had Pitt in his sights.

Unexpectedly let go at the end of the year, Pitt joined in the ill-fated Ilmor MotoGP project at the start of 2007, but the team were soon unable to continue and Pitt once more became unemployed.

He was still one of the most accurate and powerful guns for hire, however, and his two appearances as a replacement rider for the Hannspree Ten Kate WSS team in 2007 saw him score two second places.

When the Ten Kate team’s double world champion Sebastien Charpentier decided to retire, and 2007 champion Kenan Sofuoglu was drafted into the Superbike effort for 2008, Pitt was almost an automatic choice for the most dominant manufacturer and team in Supersport racing.

This choice was vindicated by his championship win, the seventh consecutive Riders’ title won by a Honda rider in the Ten Kate set-up.

2009 turned to disaster as financial problems thwarted the Ten Kate team. First a suspension manufacturer change followed by loss of key staff, Andrew found himself on an uncompetitive machine and machine failure caused numerous crashes and injuries. Andrew lost his title and finished the season in sixth position.

For 2010 – Andrew is back in superbike on a competitive team with a realistic budget. Reitwagen BMW Team look forward to fighting for podium results with Andrew throughout the season.