“ I’m just seeing how fat I can get and still beat the rest of the guys…” An American journalist has just asked Anthony Gobert about the ‘chunky’ physical shape he’s in, following an AMA race that he’d just won.
Colin Edwards, two-time WSB champ, once said: “Without any doubt, Anthony Gobert was the biggest natural talent I ever saw ride during my career, and that includes Valentino.” Sure, Anthony had his demons, but he was an incredibly talented off-road and Tarmac racer, who should have become a world champion.
Gobert was an off-road racer who came late to the Tarmac. By the time he’d come to road racing in the early 1990s, Gobert had already learned a great deal and had a wild, rear-wheel sliding style. He was teamed up with Troy Corser at Winfield Honda when Troy won the Aussie Superbike title on the aging RC30 and then Goey took the next year’s title on the brand-new RC45.
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Honda lost the Australian to Kawasaki when he switched to the Muzzy Kawasaki factory squad at the final round of the 1994 season at Phillip Island. Anthony took pole position, a 3rd in race one and a win in race two. He’d arrived… 1995 saw three wins as he took 4th place in the title race: these came in the USA at Laguna Seca and two at Australia. For 1996 at the first round at Misano, his second race win was ruled out due to a technical infringement on the bike’s carbs.
Gobert’s relationship with Muzzy broke down later that year when he didn’t turn up for some races claiming he was injured – but he still turned up for the final round at Phillip Island to take both wins before heading off to 500cc Grand Prix with Lucky Strike Suzuki.
The best he could manage in 500s in 1997 was a 7th in Austria. Following on from a DNF at Donington Park, a drug test showed cannabis in his bloodstream and he was ‘let go’ by Suzuki, aged just 21. 1998 saw him move to the Vance & Hines Ducati squad in the USA where he’d either win in style in AMA or get caught following another drugs test. 1999 was more of the same along with more WSB wins (including one at V&H home race at Laguna) but another ‘no-show’ at the end of the season saw him leave the team.
His career had a brief resurgence in 2000 where he took a Bimota SB8K to his last World Superbike win in Australia. He would later indulge in some odd 500cc GP appearances and in later years even some British Superbike appearances, where he got a best of 4th.
Gobert then pretty much disappeared until the end of 2023 when a video was posted by his brother, Aaron. Then came the shock news that he’d been admitted to hospital for end-of life-care. Sadly, he passed away on January 17, 2024.
The original article appeared in Classic Motorcycle Mechanics. To subscribe to the magazine rammed with hints, tips and nostalgia please click HERE
