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| 03/03/2008 |
| WONDERFUL VICTORY OF OUR RACER ANDREW PITT! |
| CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR RACER ANDREW PITT FOR HIS WONDERFUL VICTORY ON PHILLIP ISLAND'S TRACK!!
You can watch the race at the link http://www.worldsbk.com/pubb_EN/popup.php?id=66
Below the comment from crash.net: Former world champion Andrew Pitt won a close Supersport race at Phillip Island as countryman Josh Brookes passed two men on the last lap to finish second.
The race for the lead was nose-to-tail between a closely-matched group of riders for most of the race, although one pre-race favourite was out early on, as first round winner Broc Parkes lost the front end of his Yamaha at MG corner. Although he remounted, he went straight to his pit and no further. The front four had pulled away from the next group, with Pitt and Harms doing most of the front running, swapping places with regularity, as Foret looked to play a stalking role in fourth behind a similarly cool-looking Brookes.
But, what was that three cylinder wail catching the group from half distance? Why it's good old Garry McCoy.
The former 500cc GP winner, racing on home ground on the Caracchi Triumph 675, was flying round his favourite circuit and gradually catching the group in front after a slow start.
With Pitt and Harms still slowing each other up front, the leading pack's pace allowed McCoy and Brit Jonathan Rea - on the sister Ten Kate Honda to Pitt – to close in.
Foret was completely flummoxed by McCoy and needed three of his infamous ‘looks over the shoulder' to realise who it was pursuing him. Not needing a second chance, the flyweight Aussie was through like a shot on the nimble British triple, as Rea, too, inexorably closed on the Yamaha.
Pitt and Harms continued to lead as Foret then played his trump card, straightline speed, to force his way into contention and, with two laps left it was every man for himself, the group running two, three even four abreast at times.It looked a lottery, but Pitt seemed in control starting the last lap. Brookes, so cool early on, was ruthless in his passes while, in the opposite way, Foret appeared desperate and made a lot of mistakes as Harms and Rea eased past the Frenchman.
At the line, Pitt just edged the win, with Brookes in his slipstream to complete a home one-two and secure a great result for the Stiggy team, with Harms in third. With the two race winners to date also having a DNF against their name, Brookes now leads the championship.
2007 race winner Foret was fourth, no doubt ruing those last lap mistakes, while Rea, riding injured, would be happy to open his WSS account with fifth.
That left Pitt in the lead on the Ten Kate Honda, but under pressure Stiggy Motorsport Hondaduo Robbin Harms and Josh Brookes, with Parkes' Yamaha team-mate Fabien Foret, no doubt hoping to have enough fuel in the tank this time round, chasing hard to make it a leading quartet.
McCoy was a superb sixth on the Triumph, as first round podium man Joan Lascorz pushed himself up to second in the points standings with seventh, coming home in front of Gianluca Vizziello.
Remaining points scorers were Massimo Roccolli, Gianluca Nannelli, Ivan Clementi and Mark Aitchison on more Triumphs, and Graeme Gowland, the inexperienced Brit grabbing 13th on his Honda in front of veteran Chris Walker. Gowland's team-mate Vessa Kallio was 15th and last scorer.
After a podium last week, Craig Jones was a disappointing 16th on his Parkalgar Honda after being in the points early on, the Brit admitting that he hadn't got to grips with the unfamiliar Phillip Island circuit |
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