HANNspree Ten Kate Honda’s Andrew Pitt was well on the pace in the warm up session but struggled in race conditions at Monza today.
After an imperfect start and a struggle through the first corner, Pitt came through the first lap in 8th position and started his move forward. Despite a strong overhaul of riders in front of him, problems with the grip of his tyres forced him to abort plans to push further and he finished the race in 4th position.
Jonathan Rea, Rea, who had qualified 5th in his first race outing on the Monza track, was cruelly robbed of his chance on a good race at Monza when he had to bring his bike back to the garage in the second lap of the race due to a technical problem.
Andrew Pitt, 4th
“The clutch broke down on the start and I started going backwards. On going into the first turn I got boxed in and then someone bumped me and I came out of there in a bad position.”
“The tyre we had just didn’t work well for us. I suffered loss of grip coming out of the parabolica and just couldn’t open the throttle.”
“I think my 4th position here today is a salvage rather then a gain.”
Jonathan Rea, DNF“It has been quite a disappointing day for us here. Because of the long gearing at Monza I burned my clutch in one lap. I had a really good start, but the next thing I know the bike has no power and I got passed on the straights.”
“Its not good for the team, but I can leave with a positive feeling of coming to another new track and qualifying 5th. We fixed the problems we had in qualifying and I was feeling very confident about the race.”
“I guess these things just happen sometimes. Luckily we are still not a million miles away in the Championship so I’m looking forward to the next race and have another chance.”
Results Supersport Race:1, F. FORET
2, J. BROOKES 1.199
3, B. PARKES 6.736
4, A. PITT 11.398 5, R.HARMS 11.477
