Anthony West Can’t Afford to Pay to Race MotoGP, Mulls Retirement

The 2012 MotoGP season is still months away and the world championship has already lost an entry, as veteran Anthony West announced his withdrawal from the series because he cannot afford to compete.

The 30-year-old Australian racer was included on the provisional 2012 MotoGP entry list to compete for the Speed Master team on an Aprilia CRT machine. But with the official pre-season test at Sepang, Malaysia, coming up next week, West says he will not race because teams are asking riders to pay too much to race for them.

Writing on his official Facebook page, West says his former team, the MZ Racing Moto2 team, still owes him money, and he cannot even afford to race for free. Instead, West is considering retiring and finding a “normal job”.

I (ANTHONY WEST) will not race in moto gp this year or any other race because I can not find sponsorship to pay the SPEED MASTER team, Because all teams are asking for money from the riders only the rich can race in motogp / moto2 / moto3, I can not even afford to ride a year for free, As i have YET to be payed from my former team MZ Germany Moto2 team. I had my car mx bike and my house for sale trying to keep the ride and even gave the house as a guarantee if I did not find the money but was not enough. I will most likely not race any more and will retune back to australia to find a normal job. Sorry to my fans.

West has been racing in the World Championship since 1998 including two seasons in the premiere class for the Kawasaki factory team. West has four career grand prix podiums, all in the 250cc class, including a victory at Assen in 2003.

Speed Master may still yet find a replacement for West, but if it cannot, West’s departure would reduce the grid to 20 entries.

[Source: Anthony West (Facebook)]

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