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.
Kenan Sofuoglu - 9th
I can only say that I am really very disappointed with this weekend here in Monza. I had a very big crash in qualifying yesterday and, although I was not too badly injured, I lost quite a lot of confidence. I have some problems with braking and accelerating but we will work hard to put these right in time for the next race in South Africa. I know that I am in a very professional team and I trust the guys that I work with. I will also do my best to improve the rider performance and hopefully we can all get a good 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.
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