Andrew Pitt

Andrew Pitt
Andrew Pitt, August 2008.
Nationality	Australian
Born	19 February 1976 Kempsey, New South Wales Australia
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2002–2004, 2007 2007 championship position NC (0 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 23 0 0 0 0 10 Superbike World Championship Active years 2005–2006, 2010 2010 championship position 27th (3 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 53 1 6 0 1 409 Supersport World Championship Active years 2000–2002, 2004, 2007–2009 Championships 2 (2001, 2008) 2009 championship position 6th (119 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 66 7 23 3 6 744 British Superbike Championship Active years 2010 2010 championship position 21st (37 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 8 0 0 0 0 37

Andrew Pitt (born 19 February 1976 in Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia) is a retired motorcycle racer. He is a double World Supersport Champion, and has also won a World Superbike race and competed in MotoGP. He lives in Peel on the Isle of Man.^[1]

Career

Early days

Pitt began racing in the NSW State 250 Production Series in 1995, winning it in 1997. He was Australian Supersport Champion and Superbike runner-up in 1999, before entering the Supersport World Championship in 2000 riding for Kawasaki. He finished 10th in his debut season and won the title in 2001, without winning a race. For 2002 he continued in Supersport with Kawasaki finishing the season 5th.

MotoGP and Superbikes

At the end of 2002 he was given a ride on Kawasaki's first MotoGP bike for the final 3 races of the season. He took his and Kawasaki's first MotoGP points at the final race of the season.^[2] His promising results in 2002 made Kawasaki offer him a full-time MotoGP ride for the 2003 season. He matched experienced team-mate Garry McCoy, but neither was retained after an uncompetitive year. He made occasional appearances for Moriwaki in 2004 as part of their development programme.

In 2004 Yamaha signed him. After three Supersport World Championship races at the end of the year, he was a Superbike World Championship factory rider for 2005.^[3] He finished the season 8th overall, behind team-mate Noriyuki Haga who was third. Things improved in 2006 as he was 5th overall, and scored his maiden Superbike World Championship win at the Misano Circuit in Italy in June 2006.^[4] At the end of the 2006 season, he lost his seat to fellow Australian and 2005 Superbike World Champion Troy Corser.^[5]

For 2007, he signed to race in MotoGP for the Ilmor team.^[6] He was forced to retire with mechanical problems from the first race of the season in Qatar.^[7] On 15 March 2007, Ilmor announced that they were taking a break from MotoGP as a result of funding issues.^[8] This left Pitt without a ride.

Supersport Part 2

Later in 2007 he made two substitute appearances in the Supersport World Championship for Ten Kate replacing the injured Sébastien Charpentier,^[9] taking two second places behind dominant team-mate Kenan Sofuoğlu.

In 2008 he races in World Supersport for Ten Kate full-time, replacing Sofuoglu. In his first race he collided with the crashed bike of team-mate Jonathan Rea.^[10] He won three of the first six races to establish a championship lead.^[11] A collision with Eugene Laverty at Vallelunga threatened to derail his championship challenge,^[1] but he clinched the 2008 World Supersport championship in the penultimate round at Magny-Cours after closest rival Rea was taken out by Robbin Harms.^[12] During the Brands Hatch race in 2008, Pitt was involved in an accident that claimed the life of Craig Jones. The British rider fell in front of Pitt at Clark Curve, and Pitt's bike unavoidably^[13] struck the head of Jones, who died from his injuries on 4 August.

He remained with the team for 2009, despite originally targeting a return to WSBK.^[14] He opened the season with two second places on the 2008 bike, but struggled once the 2009 model was introduced. He was replaced by Michele Pirro for 2010.

Return to World Superbikes

On 16 December 2009, it was announced that Pitt had agreed a contract with the Reitwagen Motorsport team to ride in the 2010 Superbike World Championship season.^[15] Pitt partnered team-mate Roland Resch in riding a satellite version of the BMW S1000RR. However, the team pulled out after only three races due to a lack of funds.

British Superbikes

Pitt again changed direction following the demise of Reitwagen, joining Rob McElnea's team midway through the 2010 British Superbike Championship season as a replacement for Neil Hodgson,^[16] but he was injured in a crash at Brands Hatch and missed the rest of the season.

Retirement

In June 2011 Pitt, who was still recovering, became Gary Mason's crew chief at MSS Colchester Kawasaki in British Superbike Championship.^[17]

In January 2012, Pitt, having struggled with the shoulder injury suffered in 2010, announced his retirement from motorcycle racing.^[18]

Career statistics

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

All Time

Series		Years Active	Races	Poles	Podiums	Wins	2nd place	3rd place	Fast Laps	Titles
World Supersport (WSS)		^2000–04, 2007–09	76	3	23	7	10	6	6	2
MotoGP		^2002–04	20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
World Superbike (WSB)		^2005–06, 2010	53	0	6	1	2	3	1	0
British Superbike (BSB)		^2010	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total			157	3	29	8	12	9	7	2

Supersport World Championship

Races by year

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos.	Pts
2000	Kawasaki	AUS Ret	JPN 8	GBR 4	ITA 13	GER 17	SMR 7	SPA 8	EUR 13	NED 10	GER Ret	GBR 6				10th	60
2001	Kawasaki	SPA 11	AUS 3	JPN 3	ITA 4	GBR 10	GER 3	SMR 8	EUR 2	GER 3	NED 2	ITA 4				1st	149
2002	Kawasaki	SPA 5	AUS 1	RSA 1	JPN 7	ITA 4	GBR Ret	GER 2	SMR 6	GBR 18	GER 4	NED Ret	ITA Ret			5th	126
2004	Yamaha	SPA	AUS	SMR	ITA	GER	GBR	GBR	NED 3	ITA 6	FRA 6					12th	36
2007	Honda	QAT	AUS	EUR	SPA 2	NED 2	ITA	GBR	SMR	CZE	GBR	GER	ITA	FRA		17th	40
2008	Honda	QAT Ret	AUS 1	SPA 19	NED 1	ITA 4	GER 1	SMR 1	CZE 2	GBR 3	EUR 2	ITA Ret	FRA 1	POR 2		1st	214
2009	Honda	AUS 2	QAT 2	SPA 13	NED Ret	ITA 5	RSA 6	USA 7	SMR Ret	GBR 10	CZE 10	GER 7	ITA 6	FRA 6	POR 11	6th	119

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos.	Pts
2002	MotoGP	Kawasaki	JPN	RSA	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR	GER	CZE	POR	BRA	PAC	MAL 19	AUS 17	VAL 12			26th	4
2003	MotoGP	Kawasaki	JPN 17	RSA 16	SPA 15	FRA Ret	ITA 16	CAT Ret	NED 14	GBR 17	GER 19	CZE 16	POR 21	BRA 18	PAC 16	MAL 16	AUS 15	VAL 18			26th	4
2004	MotoGP	Moriwaki	RSA	SPA	FRA	ITA 17	CAT 14	NED	BRA	GER	GBR	CZE 16	POR	JPN	QAT	MAL	AUS	VAL			27th	2
2007	MotoGP	Ilmor	QAT Ret	SPA	TUR	CHN	FRA	ITA	CAT	GBR	NED	GER	USA	CZE	RSM	POR	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	NC	0

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Make	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		Pos.	Pts
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
2005	Yamaha	QAT 4	QAT 9	AUS 5	AUS Ret	SPA Ret	SPA 8	ITA 5	ITA 6	EUR 13	EUR 9	SMR Ret	SMR Ret	CZE 10	CZE Ret	GBR 7	GBR 6	NED 5	NED 5	GER 6	GER 6	ITA 16	ITA C	FRA 6	FRA 7			8th	156
2006	Yamaha	QAT 3	QAT 5	AUS 9	AUS 5	SPA 10	SPA 9	ITA 5	ITA 6	EUR 5	EUR 4	SMR 16	SMR 1	CZE Ret	CZE Ret	GBR 4	GBR 3	NED 2	NED 2	GER 4	GER Ret	ITA 3	ITA 4	FRA 18	FRA 5			5th	250
2010	BMW	AUS 15	AUS 15	POR Ret	POR 20	SPA 15	SPA 16	NED	NED	ITA	ITA	RSA	RSA	USA	USA	SMR	SMR	CZE	CZE	GBR	GBR	GER	GER	ITA	ITA	FRA	FRA	27th	3

British Superbike Championship

Year	Bike	1		2		3		4		5		6		7			8			9		10		11		12			Pos.	Pts
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R3
2010	Yamaha	BHI	BHI	THR	THR	OUL	OUL	CAD	CAD	MAL 9	MAL 10	KNO 11	KNO C	SNE 14	SNE 12	SNE 8	BHGP 11	BHGP Ret	BHGP DNS	CAD	CAD	CRO	CRO	SIL	SIL	OUL	OUL	OUL	21st	37

References

1. Pitt crashes out in Italy
2. First points for Pitt and Kawasaki crash.net, retrieved on 15 March 2007.
3. Pitt named at Yamaha – makes R1 debut crash.net, retrieved on 15 March 2007.
4. http://www.f1network.net/main/s180/st99413.htm
5. Yamaha confirms Corser, Haga for 2007 crash.net, retrieved on 15 March 2007.
6. McWilliams confirms MotoGP return bbc.co.uk retrieved on 15 March 2007.
7. Ilmor puzzled by poor performance autosport.com, retrieved on 15 March 2007.
8. Ilmor pull out of MotoGP temporarily autosport.com, retrieved on 15 March 2007.
9. WSS: Pitt replaces Charpentier at Valencia. crash.net, retrieved on 23 September 2007.
10. http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresults/mcn/2008/february/18-24/feb2308qatarworldsupersportjonathanreamayrequiresurgery/
11. http://www.iomtoday.co.im/sport/Andrew-Pitt-scores-third-Supersport.4191116.jp
12. Rea world title hopes are ended
13. http://www.bikesportnews.com/articles/article.html?id=I_DONT_BLAME_ANDREW_PITT_-_CRAIG_JONES_FATHER_1[]
14. "Focus on title as Pitt re-signs". Macleay Argus. Fairfax Media. 3 October 2008. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
15. "Pitt optimistic over WSB opportunity". Carole Nash. Insidebikes. 17 December 2009. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
16. "Pitt will need boxing gloves for BSB debut". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 23 June 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
17. "BSB: Lowes in with MSS Colchester Kawasaki for the rest of the season-Pitt joins as crew chief for Mason". BikeRaceNews.com. 14 June 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
18. "Andrew Pitt announces retirement". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012.

External links

• andrewpitt.com Official website