South African rider Cameron Petersen has decided to stop racing and has abandoned his ride with Fly Street/Motul/ADR Motorsports Kawasaki in the MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 Championship.
“I know this may seem like it’s out of the blue but it is something I have been thinking about for a while now and lost quite a lot of sleep over,” Petersen posted on his Facebook page. “I say this with a heavy heart and is by far the toughest thing I have had to go through but I have decided to stop racing. My father [former racer Robbie Petersen] has sacrificed his whole life for me to come live my dream racing in America and unfortunately finances are as tight as ever. He is a 55 year old man with a lot of life left and I can’t bear to see him moving from couch to couch living out of a suitcase anymore. My family deserves better, and I want nothing more than to see him find his feet and start a great life for himself. Words can’t describe how grateful I am for the sacrifices and support my family have given me throughout my career but for right now this is the best decision I can make. I also just want to take this time to thank all the special people that have helped me get to this point, I’m not going to give up on the dream but just go back and work harder and hopefully there will be opportunities for me in the future to come back and do what I love.”
Petersen’s announcement came shortly after he crashed during MotoAmerica Superbike/Superstock 1000 qualifying April 28 at Road Atlanta and destroyed the frame of his Kawasaki.
Team owner/rider “Aussie Dave” Anthony told Roadracingworld.com that Petersen’s bike could have been repaired in time for the race and the crash damage, like every other part of Petersen’s ride aside from his travel expenses, was covered by the team.
“So that announcement kind of caught me off guard,” said Anthony, a native of Australia.
In light of Petersen’s decision to stop racing and the difficulties Anthony has had so far in 2017 setting up his trick Kawasaki ZX-10R Superbike, Anthony has decided to sell his Superbike and switch to the Superstock 1000 class beginning with this weekend’s MotoAmerica event at VIRginia International Raceway.