Ant west out of GP

[96]

Straight from the man himself...

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.

It's a sad state of affairs when the teams are now there primarily to make money, and do not particularly care about the finishing positions.

[Barfridge]

Since teh GFC easy access to sponsorship has dried up. Riders need to pay their way, either through results, or financially via bringing sponsors onboard or direct payment.

When Ant West can't do any of this, and other riders can, what sort of team boss wouldn't choose the other person?

[darkfibre]

Did the team change the goalposts, or did he sign up knowing it was pay as you go and then he had to change his mind due to budget?

[Aufitt]

Its not a charity event.

[flashpixx]

latest rumour is he was offered a ride in BSB, then was withdrawn apparently as Haga got it instead. Noriyuki Haga heading to Swan Yamaha BSB? | BSB News | Feb 2012 | Crash.Net

There is a chance he may pick up another ride in BSB on a Kawasaki (replacing the injured Simon Andrews)

all rumours only but the man himself is tweeting his sad tale for all to see...

hope he does get a ride to prove once and for all if he he's got or or not.

[fredie]

bad news . good luck to ant westy

[Rick76]

Ant West will be riding in BSB for the Italian Supersonic Racing Team on a BMW.

[greggo]

Personally I hope he goes well, shows the form he did in his guest rides in supersport, and makes all the retards who turned him down look like... Well, tight arse fuckwads.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[ninjaa]

Good on him! Do BSB races get televised well here or are they pretty hard to find?

[deano68er]

Good on him! Do BSB races get televised well here or are they pretty hard to find?

Time to get foxtel mate. Was watching them last season. I iq them an supers too. You can always come over. Later rus

[fredie]

moto2 for ant westy boy

[thro]

wtf

on one hand we have motogp riders on X million / race / yr, and moto2 guys are expected to pay?

fuck that, go to supersport...

[Slice]

Go find out how much it'll cost you to drive at the bottom of the F1 field. Pay to drive has always been the way the non-premier teams operate.

[MrMike]

I heard a rumor Dan Ricciardo's dad and uncle had put about $3mil in to get him in the Torro Rosso drivers seat.

[thro]

Go find out how much it'll cost you to drive at the bottom of the F1 field. Pay to drive has always been the way the non-premier teams operate.

I'll bet the pit crew, mechanics, engineers, transport, catering and logistics guys on the team aren't paying to work there.

[Slice]

I'll bet the pit crew, mechanics, engineers, transport, catering and logistics guys on the team aren't paying to work there.

nope, but then they aren't the front man, they aren't attempting to get a drive that will earn them millions, they never will earn the type of money a driver has the potential to earn and there aren't 50 guys behind them that will pay to do what they are doing.In reality the driver themselves rarely pays, they bring a sponsor with them and the sponsor pays in exchange for future rights to the driver and his endorsements and other marketing things. The money from the driver/sponsor pays for the engineers, pit crew etc. I think even a drive in british F3 will generally require you stump up in the region of $200,000 a season. Drivers has also been know to sell equity in themselves as a driver so that in exchange for money now to race, they give up some of the money they earn down the track as a driver as a kind of investment.