South African rider Mathew Scholtz may have one of the most-coveted privateer rides in the MotoAmerica paddock on the Westby Racing team, but it took more than a decade of hard work and a venture to a foreign country to claim it.

Scholtz hails from Durban, South Africa, and did not start riding motorcycles until he was 7 years old.

“One of my friends got a Yamaha PW50,” he said. “I took it around a park a couple of times and just absolutely loved it.”

Scholtz said he spent seven years competing in motocross events and made the switch to road racing at age 14. He said the South Africa road races he competed in were not well attended, and it was up to his father and him to push his career forward.

“I had a little 125cc GP bike I raced,” he said. “We’d just show up to the track with a paid mechanic.”

Scholtz’s performance on his 125 GP bike gave him an opportunity to race in the MotoGP Red Bull Rookies Cup from 2008 to 2010, where he dueled with up-and-coming American riders like J.D. Beach and Jake Gagne.

“It does feel good when I beat the factory guys. I just try to focus on being the fastest rider on the track no matter what.”

In 2016, Scholtz made his debut in American professional road racing. He rode a Yamaha YZF-R1 for Team Rabid Transit in MotoAmerica’s Superstock 1000 Class for two rounds.

Scholtz said he was friends with fellow South African and World Supersport veteran Sheridan Morias, who was racing for the Rabid Transit team. When the team needed a fill-in rider for Morias for a couple of rounds, Morias recommended Scholtz.

During those two rounds, Scholtz began paving his way to the Westby Racing ride at his very first weekend of MotoAmerica action. The Westby team’s rider suffered a serious crash at the event, and Scholtz said he approached the team and asked them to consider him if an opportunity to ride opened up.

Two rounds later, when Morias returned to Rabid Transit, Scholtz began his partnership with the Westby crew.

Since then, Scholtz has won a Superstock 1000 Class title in 2017 and Superbike Class races in 2017 and 2018.

While he is now a paid rider, Scholtz said having to balance the demands of a professional racing career with paying the bills has not always been easy.

“I worked as a bartender in South Africa to support myself,” he said. “The odd work hours didn’t let me train myself properly.”

After battling factory-backed riders in MotoAmerica’s Superbike Class for two-and-a-half years, Scholtz said his accomplishments, so far, are more meaningful, because he’s done them with fewer resources than some of his rivals.

“It does feel good when I beat the factory guys,” he said. “I just try to focus on being the fastest rider on the track no matter what.”

Changes to MotoAmerica’s Superbike Class rules will allow the Westby team to run the same electronics package as the factory-supported teams in 2019. But Scholtz doesn’t believe the rules need to be adjusted to level the playing field in Superbike.

He credits the Westby Racing team for being a large part of his success in MotoAmerica competition.

“Just because you’re a privateer doesn’t mean you can’t be at the front,” he said.