A꧂ statement on Anthony West's official Facebook page says that the A🌸ustralian will not be able to take up his place with the Speed Master MotoGP team due to a lack of funds.

West adds🃏 that his racing career ꦕis probably now over.

The full statement reads: "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 [return] to australia to find a normal job. Sorry to my fans."

The 30-year-old former factory Kawasak💖i MotoGP rider, a♔ race winner in 250GP and WSS, has spent the last two seasons racing in Moto2 for MZ.

West's best Moto2 finish was a fourth place (from 20th on the grid) at last year's🍒 damp Assen round, scen💫e of his grand prix win in 2003.

Speed Master, which won three Moto2 races with Andrea Iannone last year, had planned to run West on an🎶 ART (Aprilia) under the new CRT rules. Iannone plans to stay with Speed M﷽aster in Moto2.

West, who also rode a partial 500cc season on a privateer Honda in 🍒2001, achieve🐭d a best MotoGP finish of fifth, during his full (2008) season with Kawasaki.

Should Speed Master not make the grid, the 2012 MotoGP line-up would be reduced to 20 bikes (12 manufacturer and 8 CRT)... Or perhaps 19, with BQ𓆉R's Yonny Hernandez facing similar critical funding problems to West.

UPDATE: Speed Master has announced that Mattia Pasini will race for the team in the 201ꦍ2 MotoGP World Championship.