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It
was almost impossible for Mal Pitman not to become involved in the world of
motorcycles. During his young,
impressionalbe years he was surrounded by bike engines, tyres, leathers, all
sorts of road and race bikes, and the thrill of the two wheeled action.
Mal's Dad and his 3 Uncles owned Yamaha South Austalia and were the
whos who of the bike world Down Under. So when it came time to decide upon a
career, the family motorcycle business in Adelaide South Australia was an
obvious choice. "From 1963
to 1994 (21 Years) my father and 3 Uncles were the Yamaha distributors for South
Australian and the Northern Territory through Pitman Yamaha,"
Pitman said. "It was in
my blood. I started as an
apprentice mechanic and worked my way up through the ranks of the company in
service, spare parts, sales and eventually I became
the Manager of the Dealer Network." Pitman
clearly remembers his first visit in 1970, when Mal was to one of Australia's
most major race meetings, the famed Castrol Six Hour Endurance Race at Amaroo
Park. "I
was a junior mechanic on one of the class winning Yamahas,"
Pitman recalls. Over
the next two decades , Pitman lived and breathed racing.
From being, on the tools, to developing a mind for planning race
winning strategies, he became highly successull in his field supported by a
family of race fans. Mals
success was wide ranging from competitive road racing bikes to motocross and
enduro. Pitmans results included to
many State Titles to mention in South Australia and the coverted National
Champioship. From 1990 to 1993, Pitman, now with 3 young teenage girls with Australian wife Sandy worked with many of the would be greats from including, Kevin Magee, Michael Dowson, Scott Doohan, and Troy Corser. It
has been a life long involvment with motorcycling that now finds Pitman in the
key role of Technical Manager for the Red Bull Yamaha Team enabling him to call
upon his wide experience at virtually all levels of motorcycling. Pitman
took on the role for 2001 after spending the three previous seasons since 1998
as Race Engineer for French GP 500 rider Regis Laconi who left the team at the
end of 2000. "Regis
winning the Valencia GP in 1999 in difficult circumstances is a
highlight of my four years with the team,"
said Pitman of that dramatic, rain-affected day in Spain that also saw Garry
McCoy in third place on the podium for the Red Bull squad. Pitman,
now in the role of Technical Manager for the Red Bull Yamaha Team has been able
to balance long periods of international travel away from home, with the
necessity of being at his European base in Strasswalchen, Austria.
Pitman is the central cog in the Red Bull Yamaha Team, being a technical
expert, he brings a new layer of technical analysis to the race engineers under
the Peter Clifford lead team. Mal
is now also an expert list maker and dooer, an avid fast (very fast) walker, and
above all respected bike fanatic. Pitman
counts a collection of restored motorcycles as some of his most valued
possessions including two examples of Yamaha's Australian championship winning
TZ 750's, a 1973 H2A Kawasaki and a production race version Yamaha XS1100. |
