Rennie Scaysbrook | January 17, 2024
Anthony Gobert has passed away following a short battle with a mystery illness. He was 48.
A short Facebook post from Anthony’s mother, Sue, read, “My heart is breaking as I write this as my first born beautiful son Anthony has passed late this afternoon. I loved him from the moment he was born until the day I die. At times he was challenging to say the least but he always had a kind heart and cared for everyone. Sadly he was a victim of addiction which runs deeply in our families. He tried many times to get better but he couldn’t quite make it. I am so proud of him and thank all those good people who added to his life. You know who you are.”
Anthony Gobert has passed away. He was 48.
Gobert was widely regarded as one of the most talented riders of his generation, having claimed numerous motocross and supercross titles in his native Australia before claiming the 1994 Australian Superbike Championship for Winfield Honda at his first attempt in what would turn out to be his only major road racing title.
He burst onto the WorldSBK that same year, winning the second race at Phillip Island as a wildcard for Muzzy Kawasaki, the team he would stay at for the next two seasons before switching to Lucky Strike Suzuki for an ill-fated 1997 season in which he would lose his ride by testing positive for marijuana.
Gobert in action during his short but spectacular stint with Bimota in WorldSBK.
Gobert then spent the next eight seasons racing in the United States in the AMA Superbike Championship for teams such as Vance & Hines Ducati, the factory Yamaha team and Erion Honda, as well as a short stint back in WorldSBK in 2000 on the factory Bimota, and returned to Australia after a DUI charge in Huntington Beach in 2005.
Gobert raced sporadically in Australia until the end of 2007 and after several high profile run-ins with the law, disappeared from public life in 2008.
One of Gobert’s most famous rides was his double win at Phillip Island in 1996 for Muzzy Kawasaki.
A slew of distasteful social media videos recently emerged, showing Gobert almost unrecognizable to the racer everyone knew and caused the Gobert family great pain, especially as he was going through treatment for his eventually fatal illness at the time.
Paul Carruthers was editor of Cycle News during the Anthony Gobert American years and remembers his countryman fondly.
“As the editor of Cycle News back when Anthony Gobert arrived on the scene, I was there for all of his victories and all of his off-track problems,” Paul says. “I remember covering the opening round of the 1998 AMA Superbike Championship at Phoenix International Raceway and what would be Anthony’s first AMA Superbike victory. The win came at the expense of his rival and countryman Mat Mladin with the pair battling together out front for the majority of the race.
Gobert (96), Miguel Duhamel (17) and Colin Edwards (45) go wheel-to-wheel across the stripe at Daytona.
“The press conferences were electric back then with the media more nervous than the riders, thanks mainly to the Mladin’s take-no-nonsense approach. The pair of Aussies obviously respected each other, but they were completely different, and they didn’t mind having a go at each other. Their banter was always good stuff. If Mladin said the track was dangerous, Gobert would say he liked it. And those of us with tape recorders loved every minute of it.
“Gobert showed up for that first race with the Vance & Hines team with freshly dyed red hair and a big smile. He was an instant hit. He was friendly, funny, and obviously a huge talent. “With Mat on a Suzuki with all that’s happened with me and Suzuki, I wanted to beat everybody, especially Suzuki,” Gobert said post-win after getting fired from the Suzuki MotoGP team the year prior. “I didn’t want them beating me so it’s good to sit here and have both Suzukis behind me.”
Gobert is a WorldSBK winner again, this time with Vance & Hines Ducati at Laguna Seca in race one.
“Gobert won races, 11 of them in the premier AMA Superbike class, yet the Aussie and trouble seemed to be dance partners. But, oddly enough, no matter what hijinks he got himself into, you pulled for him. You wanted him to do well. He had that sort of charming personality.
“For the want of a better word, Gobert was fun. He was fun to chat with because you never knew what he was going to say. He was fun to watch race because he was so good. And it was fun to watch it all unfold. He’d get himself into trouble but come back to the track with so much speed that he’d make people forget the troubles.
“In a world of what have you done for me lately, Gobert seemed to have that down pat. He had a knack for being able to do enough extraordinary things to make you forget the things that made you shake your head and hope for the best.
Gobert will always be tied to Muzzy Kawasaki, the team at which he put on some of his most memorable rides.
“It was my job to report on Gobert’s problems as well as his triumphs during his career so there were times when he wasn’t happy with me. But we’d always get through the uncomfortable conversation and by the end of it we’d be back to laughing together.
“I will remember Gobert for how good he was on a motorcycle, how well he treated people, his friendly smile, and the fact that he squeezed everything he could out of a life that ended sadly and much too soon.”
We will have more on this story as it comes to hand.
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