VOL. 52 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 P83
dad sold his cars, we were going
to come move to America and
sold the house and everything.
Then when that canceled we
didn't really know what to do. So
we stayed in South Africa."
In the meantime, he kept up
his road racing at home. He did
a few years on a GP 125 before
jumping onto a 600 in 2011, and
hit the ground running. He won
his first race on the 600 and a
few years later in 2013 he won
his first championship on a MV.
Success at home was great, but
the young Petersen had his eyes
set on racing abroad.
"Ever since I won the cham-
pionship I've been wanting to
come overseas," he said. "My
dad worked here in 2010 for Ben
Bostrom [Pat Clark Motorsports
Yamaha team] and we tried then
but we couldn't do it. So I've
been wanting to get overseas for
a long time."
In the end, something good
came out of the Rookies cup
venture as it introduced them to
Danny Walker, the team princi-
pal at RoadRace Factory, who
was the rider coach and selec-
tion judge for the program at the
time that was built to bring up
young racers.
"The one good thing about
coming to the Rookies even
I WOULD
LIKE TO TRY
TO GET A
PODIUM BEFORE
THE END OF THE
YEAR. I'VE HAD A
FEW TOP FIVES...
THIS LAST RACE
[INDY] IT'S THE
CLOSEST I'VE
BEEN TO THE TOP
GUYS. AT LEAST
NOW I KNOW
THAT I CAN RUN
WITH THESE
GUYS.
Petersen and his crew celebrate his
best finish thus far (fourth) in race
two at Miller Motorsports Park.
