World SuperSport 2002 - Round 5 - Monza

After fighting his way up through the field from eleventh place on the grid, Fuchs Kawasaki's Andrew Pitt was involved in a thrilling four-way battle for the Supersport race win at Monza this afternoon, only missing out on a podium finish by the narrowest of margins.

'I got a good start and found it quite easy to work my way up through the field during the first half of the race,' said Pitt. 'Once I'd pushed my way to the front I tried to string together a couple of really fast laps, in an attempt to pull out an advantage, but they just kept pegging me back on the straights. Coming into the chicane with two laps to go I had to brake to avoid running into the back of Foret and that lost me any chance of taking the win.'

'I'm disappointed not to have picked up a podium finish as I passed Fujiwara twice on the final lap and I was in front coming onto the start finish straight, but he just managed to out drag me to the line. Today's result may have moved me down to third place in the championship, but by beating Stephane Chambon I've actually closed to within five points of the series lead. A race win at Silverstone would put me back at the top of the table, and that's obviously what I'll be aiming for in two weeks time,' continued the Australian.

James Ellison's race ended on the opening lap when he was forced to retire following a collision in the first chicane.

'I got a really good start, but had a coming together with Whitham as I tipped into the left-hander at the first chicane,' explained Ellison. 'I managed to stay on and the bike felt fine as I was accelerating towards the Lesmo curve. It was only when I tried to change down for the corner, and couldn't move the gearlever, that I realised it had been damaged in the collision, leaving me with no option but to pull out. It's disappointing, because I've been looking forward to this weekend since the start of the season, but I need to put it behind me now and concentrate on preparing myself for Silverstone in a fortnights time. '