Anthony Gobert was an incredibly talented off-road and Tarmac racer, who should have become a world champion.
Words: Bertie Simmonds Photographs: Mortons Archive, Suzuki
“Without any doubt, Anthony Gobert was the biggest natural talent I ever saw ride during my career,” said Colin Edwards, two-time World Superbike champ and former MotoGP star. James Whitham also echoed this sentiment, saying: “When I followed him on track, when he was on his game I couldn’t follow him for more than two corners before throwing it into the trees. He was a very special talent on a bike.”
Anthony 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 ageing 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. Goey 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 wins 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. It was a frustrating year for Gobert, and the highs of victory were matched with the lows of rumours of a hard-partying lifestyle. His relationship with Muzzy broke down 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 Grands 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, all at the age of 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.
His demons and issues are well documented but he’d pretty much disappeared from view until the end of 2023, when a video was posted by his brother. Then came the shock news that he’d been admitted to hospital for end of life care. He passed away on January 17, 2024.
