At just 25 years old, Sharni Pinfold announces her retirement from motorcycle racing, tired of the macho treatment she had to endure throughout her young racing career. She indicates that “the lack of respect and contemptuous treatment of women” were the main factors in his decision.
Tired of machismo in the sporting field and the lack of respect towards women, the Australian driver announces her retirement from competition, despite a contract for the 2021 season in the IDM Supersport 300 Championship with the RT Motorsport Kawasaki team.
The Australian, just 25 years old, born in Perth, started running after the death of her father. As she wanted to clarify, her motorcycle journey is marked by her constant work, without anyone's help. Indeed, in order to pursue her dream of being a professional rider, Sharni Pinfold moved to Europe in 2018 to take part in the British Moto3 Championship.
This allowed her to participate in 3 rounds of the European Womens Cup, on the tracks of Imola and Misano, where the young driver entered the top 10 on tracks that she did not know.
She also had the opportunity to make her World Supersport 300 debut on a Kawasaki from the Smrz Racing team in Magny-Cours. Despite having great potential which attracted the attention of the team, she experienced a complicated and unlucky weekend, which caused her to break her collarbone. Despite everything, the team wanted to keep it and had reached an agreement to compete in the German IDM SSP300 championship in 2021. Three weeks later and without even starting the Championship, Pinfold had had enough.
It is by a press release on Facebook page as Sharni Pinfold announced her retirement from sport. Here are his own words:
“I want to announce my decision to move away from the world of competition. I do not take this decision lightly, it comes from the heart.
From the start of my career, I made the decision to give 100% knowing that at the end of my career, I would be sure I had done everything I could do. My father passed away just before I started running. This means that everything I have done has been solely on my own, without guidance or support.
Throughout my career in motorsport, I have experienced and been exposed to many challenges, some of which seem difficult to me to tackle. Most of the challenges I faced were based on the lack of respect and derogatory treatment of women. Things that I know I would never have had to experience or be exposed to if I had been a man.
There comes a point where you've had enough, and I feel like I've reached that point. I feel like I don't want to be exposed to this behavior or be treated this way again. This saddens me deeply. It saddens me deeply to look at the challenges of my own journey and recognize the fact that women who dedicate their lives to pursuing their dreams are exposed to them and treated in this way. This was the main contributing factor to my decision to retire.
My love for the sport continues and I'm not sure what the future holds for me. I am very proud of what I have accomplished in this sport and I find it a shame that I have not yet been able to develop my full potential.
My love for the sport continues and I'm not sure what the future holds for me. I'm very proud of what I've accomplished in this sport, and I feel like it's a shame that I haven't yet reached my full potential. I want to thank everyone who has supported me, given me opportunities and the friends I have met along the way. I hope that through my journey I can help and encourage others to know that they are worthy of getting what they want. My wish for others is to know that no one has the right to make you feel unworthy or uncomfortable, or that you should reject anything that is not right for you. Your intuition is the most reliable guide we have and the answers we seek are all within us. You are stronger than you think and you are capable of more than you think. »
There is still a way to go…
Pictures : Instagram Sharni Pinfold
