Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

INTE RVIEW . AnthonyGobert By Henny Ray Abrams Photos by Gold & Goose t the relatively tender yo u n!i age of 21, Anthony Gobert is a m an in a hurry. His plans are am bitious, if not a bit quixotic, and time is becom ing his ene my. What he proposes to accomplish is s o sin g u la r in it s reach an d vision that no one has ev er co n sid ered it, let a lo ne attempted it . First comes th e 1996 World Superbike title, then a y ea r 's apprenticeship aboard a Honda NSR500 follow ed by three 500cc World Championships, and the cou p de grace, a return to his roots, the AMA Supercross title. "One of the goals 1 have in life is to prove to mysel f that I'm the best rider. At this stage, Mick Doohan is th at rider, so I want to go 500 as soo n as possible to have th at chan ce to bea t him . And then if McGrath's sti ll around, I'd like to h ave the oppo rtu ni ty to beat him also. I'm th e kind of pe rso n tha t li kes to look fo r th e tough guy and try to knock him down, and I want to be the m an ," he says in his soft Aussie voice, unmarked by emotion. But on this day the man he nearl y knocked down w as h is teamma te, Simon Crafar, while attempting an im pe tuous and needless p a s sing m a n e u v e r in th e h igh-sp eed Os tkurve ea rly in th e second leg of th e Germ an rou nd of the Superbike World Ch ampionship. Try ing to go around th e Kiwi Crafar, Gobert leaned in, the two touched, and the "Go Show" went careening in to the gravel trap. The d am age looked worse than it w as; early o n it appeared that the r e m igh t b e ligame n t damage to his feet, but he recovered quickl y and will be rea dy for the next race . It w a s a n ill -a d vi se d m o v e an d very littl e go od could com e of it. None did. Wh at it bl atantly p oin ted o u t is that if th ere is one thing th at Gobert lac ks, it's patie nce, a n d to be successful h e ' ll have to learn to slow down to go fast. Everyone who has ever watched him ride agrees that, with the proper maturity, success is a vi rtual guarantee for the Australian whiz kid . H is riding is inspire d , p a s s ion ate a n d fe a rl e s s . Yet t h e ch erub faced Kawasaki rider refu ses t o do things the easy wa y, preferring to throw as many obstacles in his way as he can, just to prove to himself that he' s above them . Some h e'll conquer, many he won 't, and the spot in which he's put himself in the World Superb ike series is unenviabl e. But it doesn't stop him from reaching. The first goa l is winning the 1996 World Superbike title on the Muzz y Kaw asaki, and that is ra pidly fadi ng in the distance. A di sp uted win in the second race of the first m ee t in g at M isano, along with a first-leg fifth, was follow ed by a pair of thirds at Donington which h e said he was "just dis- A 20 graced o ve r ." Then came th e Germ an round at Hockenheim where he rode to an uninspired sixth - the result ·of a bad rear tire choice - in the first leg and followed it with a silly crash int o his team mate in th e second leg. The greater damage was to h is cha m pionship h op es. Dep en d in g on th e o utcome of his di sputed win, where the Mu zzyKawasaki tea m was accused of illegal carburetor modification s, Gobert is either in eighth place, with 53 points, or in fourth with 78, still a long w ay from John Kocinski's 105. Th ere remain 12 race meetings, ·24 races, and team own er Rob Muz z y believes the team is still in the hunt, even if it is an uphill battle. To hear Gobert tell it, that he' s even here is something of an effort. " It is a bit of a struggle for me to still be m otivated for these World Superbike rac es because I d id n 't w ant to come to World Su perb ike in th e firs t p lace," he said durin g a wide-ranging in terview in his wellbachelorized m otor ho me at the Hockenheimring. "I 'w a nted to go straight to GPs to try to do the 500 thing and then .go to Camel Supercross ." The plan, according to the 21year-old Australian, is to go to the 500cc class, ideal ly aboard a H o n d a NSR500, learn to ride it in 1997, wi n three titles, then m o ve to t h e Ame rica n Su pe rcross series. "T he reason for ro ad racing first and then m o tocro ss after is th at nobody's do ne that before." An d for good reason. A quick look a t the 500cc Grand Prix alumni reveals enough b ody d amage to m ak e it hard to get out of bed in the m orning. mu ch less co m pete against the likes o f Jeremy McGr ath and Jeff Em ig. He had first hatch ed th e plan watching his idols Rick Johnso n an d Jeff Ward, and h ad wan ted to race Jean -Mi ch e l Bayl e, someth ing he may. get to do in th e 500cc class next yeare "With him now being on the Yamaha 500 team, that's good . 1 couldn't ask for an ything more." Gobert had, in fact, raced at a pair of American supercrosses in 1992 and, tho ugh th e re su lt s were n' t th er e, th e experie n ce was e nligh te ni ng . "The co nfidence is d efinitel y th ere and I feel that the riding capabilities ar e there. It depends on how m y road r a ci n g career g o es a n d whether I g et burned out in Superbikes a n d just want to ret ir e, ap art fr o m road ra cing, retire fo r good. I haven't m ad e a decision in m y mind yet wheth er I' ll retire fr o m road racing and go ju st supercross or retire altogether. As everybody knows, I wa nt to go 500 racing and I want to do it with Honda and I want to win at leas t three championships with the 500. So that's why I'm in such a hurry, early in my career, and I always will

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