Fuchs Kawasaki's Andrew Pitt has closed to within 22 points of championship leader, Fabien Foret, following a determined ride to fourth place at Oschersleben this afternoon.

A good start from the third row of the grid saw Pitt in the thick of the action at the front of the race but, unable to match the straight-line speed of the competition on the main straight, the 26-year-old reigning champion quickly found himself pushed to the back of the leading group. Held up by slower riders during the early stages, by the time Pitt had managed to squeeze his way past, the six riders ahead of him had pulled out an insurmountable lead.

Working hard to try and bridge the gap, Pitt found himself elevated to fifth position, as first Karl Muggeridge crashed out, closely followed by Christian Kellner. Just as it looked as if the Australian would be forced to settle for fifth place, he again moved up the order, when Fabien Foret crashed out following one of his, now infamous, backward glances.

'I rode as hard as I could out there, so I'm happy enough with fourth position,' said Pitt. 'I was getting held up through the turns, but then losing out on acceleration down the main straight; and I couldn't seem to put in a pass whatever I tried. Eventually I managed to find some clear space and put in some consistent laps, but the gap to the leading group was just too big to bridge. I don't know what happened up front, but I saw a couple of people go off late on in the race and suddenly, my pit board was telling me I was fourth.'

'Foret's crash means that things have closed up again at the top of the championship standings, and I'll definitely be looking to close the gap even further next weekend at Assen,' continued the Australian.

Pitt's Fuchs Kawasaki team-mate, James Ellison, also had cause to celebrate at Oschersleben this afternoon. Having started from 22nd place on the grid, the reigning European Superstock Champion fought his way through the field, to secure his first ever top ten finish in a World Supersport race.

'I made a good start, but a crash right in front of me left oil on the track and I had no option but to ride straight through it,' explained Ellison. 'A near crash at the next corner, because of oil on the left hand side of the tyre, meant that I suddenly found myself dead last. But we'd finally got the bike working how I wanted it, so I was able to work my way back up the field pretty quickly.'

'Having scored my first ever World Supersport top ten, I'm really looking forward to Assen; it's my type of circuit, with some real fast, flat out corners,' he added.