Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Anthony Gobert No, I wasn't interested in World Superbikes at all. I'd heard very little about it apart from Rob Phillis when he u~d to race in it. My heart's only in 500s - it's not with superbikes. I'm only here at the moment because I have to be, not because I want to be. Are you not enjoying racing here? I wouldn't say that, but I'm not having as good a time as I'd like. I know that I would be a·lot more at ease if I was where I wanted to be. I suppose for me, iust like for-a lot of other guys, it's important to feel good about what I'm doing. I don't particularly like it here. A lot of these World Superbike guys think they're better than the GP guys. To me, anyone who thinks that is just kidding himself because what we're racing are just street bikes - not fully fledged racing machines. So it is because of the bikes that you're not enjoying yourself? , Yes. I would like to have more power. Everything I want, a 500 has. So it's just someiliing that I want to do because, as I said, I've got no interest in superbikes at all. I've only ever looked at superbikes as a stepping stone to 500s. 1 laughed when Carl Fogarty and others said that .superbikes were getting so good now that young guys like myself and Troy (Corser) and Colin (Edwards) are coming. He must realize that we're only here because we can't get 500 rides. Do you think superbikes are good training for riding a 500? Yes, if you're riding a four-cylinder superbike. But on a Ducati I think you're making it a lot more difficult for yourself because I feel it's very easy to By Stephane Van GelderlPhotos by Henny Ray Abrams 1V orld Superbike rookie Anthony Gobert is arguabl y the hottest new road racing talent in the world. When the question is asked as to which rider is going where for the 1996 season, Gobert's name continues to crop up faster than any other. The young Australian has been linked with everyone from th<;! Grand Prix teams of Pileri Honda and Marlboro Roberts Yamaha, to the World Superbike teams of Honda, Ducati and bacK to his current employer,. Kawasaki. But be seems hell-bent on somehow becoming 500cc World Champion. Where he goes, nobody knows. But wherever Gobert chooses to compete in 1996, this confident young man is sure to turn heads. Wecaught up with Gobert recently to discuss both the past and the future. Why did yo~ leave Honda for Kawasaki at the end of last year? They wanted me to sign a contract before I rode the factory Honda at the last round in Phillip Island. At that stage, the contract O'1ly stated Australian superbike racing and I wasn't interested in racing in Australia again. So [ wasn't going to sign that contract. They said that I had to sign it to ride the bike, So I said I wasn't going to sign something that I didn't want to do. I was quite disappointed with the , way they went about it. I felt it was quite unprofessional. But I suppose people do business in different ways. I'd been speaking to the Muzzy team about doing World Superbikes this year. He (Rob Muzzy) approached me in Sugo, when I rode the Honda there in last year's World Superbike round. But I wasn't that interested in Kawasaki. I had wanted to stay with Honda and ride a 500 for them this year. But at Phillip Island I had the option to go home and sit on the couch and watch it on TV, or to ride a Kawasaki.. So I went down and packed my gear, after Honda said I couldn't ride their bike, and walked out of the garage. Rob wasn't there at the time, it was just Steve Johnson. I spoke to him and explained how Rob said I could have a ride on the bike, which he knew all about. Within about 10 minutes I was out on the track on one of Terry Rymer's spare bikes. It was a spur-of-the-moment type thing. A lot of people see it that I left Honda, but I don't see it th.at way. I feel tha t they left me with no other option but to go because of the way they did their business. But I haven't been dwelling on the fact that I'm not with Honda because I know that I can, win on a lot of different machinery, and I know that I don't need Honda to become World Champion. But it would be nice, because I have a lot of confidence in Honda machines. I've grown up around them ever since I started racing, and also Kawasaki. I've ridden Kawasaki and Hondas off and on every since I started racing, when I was 10 years old. So I have confidence in both machines, but maybe a little more in Honda because they have a 500 and that's where I want to go. It was a shame to stop the relationship we had. Originally, I had a fouryear plan with them which was going to see me got to Japan fo~ the 500cc AllJapan Series. Then, if I won that in my first year, I would then go to the world series. Once the All-Japan thing got canceled, I put it to them that I wanted to ride a 500. I knew they only had Mick Doohan who was capable of winning races, and tha t if he was injured then they would have no one else on a Honda that could win. I knew that I wouldn't be able to win on a 500 straight away - it takes time. r felt that with them having a three-rider team, I could have been the iliird rider and just be there to learn. Maybe it would've taken me one year to learn, or maybe two. It's hard to say, but I know I'm a real fast learner and that it wouldn't take me as long as with a lot of the other guys. So you wanted to get to 500cc GP racing this year. You didn't really want to do superbikes? ride and quite easy to win races on. I think the Ducati guys probably don't really know where they're at. Fogarty sometimes says that he's the best ri der and that he would be at the front iii GPs. I think it would be a bit of a shock if he rode something different. For example, I'd never heard of Doug Polen until he rode a Ducati. He became World Champion, then he rode something else and now he's gone. I'd never heard of Carl Fogarty until he rode a Ducati either. Now he's World Champion, but I feel that if he wants people to recognize him as a rider, then he either has to step up to 500s and prove him" self, or he has to ride another brand of machine. I would say he had to do that for himself. This doesn't mean that I don't think the Kawasaki is a good machine. But I just feel that the rules are in favor of the Ducati. But it's all to be expected when the championship is run by Italians and it's an Italian bike. I'm just getting sick .of riding twice as hard as someone .on a Ducati. I know I won't be able to retire without a 500 title and be satisfied. My whole life has always been racing motorcycles. I turned professional when I was 15. I left school to concentrate on this. This is all I do. I train all the time for this. I do everything just thinking about this. So I know that I need to be 500cc World Champion to be satisfied. I still feel something in my heart is missing because I might have left super-

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