Anthony Gobert

Anthony Stephen Gobert (5 March 1975 – 17 January 2024) was an Australian professional motorcycle road racer, nicknamed The Go Show. He was a rider of immense promise and talent who had his career derailed by a personal struggle with alcohol and drug abuse. Winning the final leg of the 1994 season at Phillip Island, he became the youngest ever World Superbike race winner at the age of 19 years old, a record that was broken by 18-year-old Yuichi Takeda at Sugo in 1996.

Anthony Gobert
Gobert at the 1997 German motorcycle Grand Prix
Nationality	Australian
Born	(1975-03-05)5 March 1975 Greenacre, New South Wales, Australia
Died	17 January 2024(2024-01-17) (aged 48) Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1997, 1999 - 2000 Team(s) Suzuki, MuZ Weber, Modenas Championships 0 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 13 0 0 0 0 51 Superbike World Championship Active years 1994-1996, 1999-2000, 2006 Manufacturers Honda, Kawasaki, Bimota, Yamaha, Suzuki 2006 championship position N/C Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 57 8 16 2 2 504 Supersport World Championship Active years 2006 Manufacturers Yamaha 2006 championship position 35th (4 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 2 0 0 0 0 3

Superbikes/Supersport

In his teens, he was a successful motocross racer, winning national classes in Australia, before moving to road racing and winning the Australian domestic superbike championship. He first earned international notice as a wild card at his home Superbike World Championship round at Phillip Island in 1994, taking pole position, a win and a third place. Racing full-time in the championship for Muzzy Kawasaki in 1995, he became team leader after Scott Russell's abrupt departure and finished 4th overall, winning races at Laguna Seca and Phillip Island. He was 8th in 1996, with 3 wins and 3 other podiums, after missing much of the season through injury.

For 1998 and 1999, he competed in the AMA Superbike Championship on a Vance & Hines Ducati, including a win as a WSBK wildcard at Laguna Seca.

For 2000, he returned to WSBK on a Bimota SB8R. With the race number 501, he won a wet race at Phillip Island and generally did better than expected on the machine, before the team folded, due to lack of financial backing. Bimota named the SB8K Gobert bike after him. Three British Superbike meetings (substituting for Steve Hislop at Team Virgin Mobile Yamaha) followed in late 2000.

For 2001, he was back in the AMA championship with Yamaha, spending two years racing the YZF R7 in the superbike class and the YZF R6 in the supersport class respectively. This was followed by a brief dalliance with Ducati in 2003. After some time back in the Australian Superbike series he did two rounds of Supersport World Championship at the start of 2006, replacing the injured David Checa. In 2006, he raced at the Valencia Superbike World Championship round (making him the first rider to have wildcard rides in three different countries), alongside some rounds of Spain's Superbike series. For 2007, he returned to Australia Superbikes on a Kawasaki.

Grand Prix

Gobert went to the 500cc World Championship in 1997 with the Lucky Strike Suzuki replacing Scott Russell as the number one rider, but was dismissed in mid-season after failing a drug test.

Gobert raced for MuZ Weber at the end of 1999 season

A 500cc one-off at Donington Park for Kenny Roberts' KR3 Modenas Team followed in late 2000.

Career results

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pos.	Pts
1997	500cc	Suzuki	MAL DNS	JPN	SPA	ITA 13	AUT 7	FRA 10	NED 13	IMO 10	GER 9	BRA 10	GBR Ret	CZE 12	CAT	INA	AUS		15th	44
1999	500cc	MuZ Weber	MAL	JPN	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR	GER	CZE	IMO	VAL	AUS Ret	RSA 18	BRA 10	ARG DNS	25th	6
2000	500cc	Modenas	RSA	MAL	JPN	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR 15	GER	CZE	POR	VAL	BRA	PAC	AUS	29th	1

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Make	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		Pos.	Pts
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
1994	Honda	GBR	GBR	GER	GER	ITA	ITA	SPA	SPA	AUT	AUT	INA	INA	JPN 8	JPN 6	NED	NED	SMR	SMR	EUR	EUR							17th	53
	Kawasaki																					AUS 3	AUS 1
1995	Kawasaki	GER 16	GER Ret	SMR 6	SMR 16	GBR 10	GBR Ret	ITA Ret	ITA 12	SPA 7	SPA DNS	AUT 2	AUT 3	USA 1	USA 2	EUR 3	EUR 5	JPN 5	JPN 9	NED 9	NED 7	INA 4	INA 4	AUS Ret	AUS 1			4th	222
1996	Kawasaki	SMR 5	SMR DSQ	GBR 3	GBR 3	GER 6	GER Ret	ITA Ret	ITA 10	CZE Ret	CZE 19	USA Ret	USA 1	EUR 2	EUR 4	INA DNS	INA DNS	JPN	JPN	NED	NED	SPA	SPA	AUS 1	AUS 1			8th	167
1999	Ducati	RSA	RSA	AUS	AUS	GBR	GBR	SPA	SPA	ITA	ITA	GER	GER	SMR	SMR	USA 1	USA Ret	EUR	EUR	AUT	AUT	NED	NED	GER	GER	JPN	JPN	24th	25
2000	Bimota	RSA Ret	RSA 11	AUS 1	AUS 9	JPN Ret	JPN Ret	GBR	GBR	ITA 22	ITA Ret	GER Ret	GER Ret	SMR	SMR	SPA	SPA	USA	USA	EUR	EUR	NED	NED	GER	GER			25th	37
	Yamaha																									GBR Ret	GBR Ret
2002	Yamaha	SPA	SPA	AUS	AUS	RSA	RSA	JPN	JPN	ITA	ITA	GBR	GBR	GER	GER	SMR	SMR	USA DNS	USA DNS	GBR	GBR	GER	GER	NED	NED	ITA	ITA	NC	0
2006	Suzuki	QAT	QAT	AUS	AUS	SPA DNS	SPA DNS	ITA	ITA	EUR	EUR	SMR	SMR	CZE	CZE	GBR	GBR	NED	NED	GER	GER	ITA	ITA	FRA	FRA			NC	0

Supersport World Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos.	Pts
2006	Yamaha	QAT 12	AUS Ret	SPA	ITA	EUR	SMR	CZE	GBR	NED	GER	ITA	FRA	35th	4

Personal life

According to a report in The Courier-Mail, the 33-year-old Gobert was charged with two counts of stealing after taking two $20 notes from the hand of a 70-year-old man at a Coles supermarket in Surfers Paradise on 13 May 2008 and stealing a woman's purse the following day. He was granted bail on condition that he surrender his passport, report to police five times a week and not enter central Surfers Paradise.

In June 2019, Gobert was reported to have been involved in an altercation at a restaurant. Afterwards, he was followed home by a number of individuals whom he had earlier fought with. They forced their way into Gobert's home, robbed him, and beat him with baseball bats. He was beaten beyond recognition. Hospital staff were only able to identify him after he had regained consciousness.

Death

In January 2024, news agencies reported that Gobert had been receiving end-of-life care on the Gold Coast, Queensland, for an undisclosed illness. He died on 17 January, at the age of 48.

External links

• Career details from mcnews (archived)
• Anthony Gobert on MotoGP.com
• Anthony Gobert on WorldSBK.com