Satellite BMW World Superbike team, Reitwagen Motosport BMW, is a no-show this weekend at Monza, the second race in a row the team has failed to show up for. According to rider Andrew Pitt, the team is experiencing financial difficulties, and has been unable to contact the team, who have “gone into hiding” according to the Australian rider.
In 140 characters or less, Mat Mladin has signaled that he won’t be jumping to WSBK anytime soon. Linked to Reitwagen’s satellite BMW racing effort, Mladin’s possible seat on the team went to Andrew Pitt just last week. Mladin created some buzz with his tweet two weeks ago, which hinted that the ex-AMA racer was considering making the transition to World Superbike racing.
UPDATE: Andrew Pitt has confirmed that he has signed with Reitwagen Racing for the 2010 WSBK season.
After BMW added a satellite team to World Superbike, the German team, Reitwagen Racing, was expected to have Austrian Roland Resch at the helm of one of the team’s S1000RR bikes, with a second bike rumored to be still open.
A week later, Mat Mladin shook things up in WSBK, after he tweeted that he was contemplating an offer to ride in the World Superbike Championship. After this news, links began to be made between Mladin and Reitwagen Racing program.
Any hopes of the Australian AMA champion riding the Bavarian machine though seem to be dashed now though, as fellow Australian Andrew Pitt is expected to take up the second seat on the satellite squad instead of Mladin.
After a successful inaugural season in the World Superbike Championship, BMW is looking to let some other riders, besides Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus, have some fun on the S1000RR. With two teams set to carry the BMW flag in the IDM Superbike series (German equivalent of AMA Superbike), a two-man team in British Superbike, and rumors of an AMA Superbike bid, BMW seems to be franchising better than a Pappa John’s Pizza.
And now according to Swiss publication Speedweek helping BMW make a bigger push into WSBK is the news that German team Reitwagen Racing will run a S1000RR as WSBK satellite team.