INTERVIEW
MOTOAMERICA SUPERSPORT RACER CAMERON PETERSEN
P82
me to do road racing. I had one
bad accident where I broke both
my legs and my mom said no
more motocross. And then my
dad brought home a little CBR
150 and I went into my first race.
I think I finished fifth. Ever since
then it's just been road racing."
Growing up, he didn't have to
look far to find racing heroes.
"For sure, growing up, my
dad was definitely one of my
heroes," he said. "I looked up to
him in a big way. I've definitely
got big shoes to fill. He was
pretty successful in America and
Spain, pretty much all over the
world.
"Also, Sete Gibernau was one
of my heroes growing up. My
dad actually used to train Sete in
Spain. Now with Marc Marquez
coming up, he's something else.
I definitely strive to be something
like him."
Petersen's start in road racing
was the Red Bull Rookies cup in
the U.S., unfortunately it was cut
a bit short.
"I hadn't been doing much
riding on a road bike before, just
a bit of Supermoto," he said. "So
I came to Rookies in 2008 and
got selected for the series, and
unfortunately that was the year
they canceled the series.
"That was kind of a tough
break for us because we signed
the contract and everything. My
It started out
a bit rough for
Petersen in the
new championship,
but the 20-year-
old South African
has made
steady progress
throughout the
season.
