Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

1m Gobert banned trom World Su erbike W Wh en qu estion ed in a post-q ualifyi ng Ducati press conference on July 11 about Gobert's AMA fu tu re, Vance said: "As far as the AMA is concerned, that is a ques tion that they wo uld have to answer. As far as the fu tu re, I • d on't know wh at the AMA will d o to Anthony as far as any kind of pena lty or things like that, becau se this is conside re d the same as a n AMA event. As far as the FIM goes, they denied his entry for this event , and wha t they do for the futu re... I'm sure they' ll meet an d make some sort of announcement regard ing that. "We're very d isappoi nted, naturally, because the re is hile the re st of no justification or excuse for a situation like this. Twe nty th e World people have been wo rki ng so lid for a month for this to Superbikes cirput us in a situation where we can race w ith some of the culated arou nd Lagubest rid ers in th e world, so we we re really ant icipa ting · na Seca Ra cewa y in this event." th e first official pracAs for Gobert's relationsh ip wit h the Vance & Hi nes tice ses sion for the team, Vance said, "We really hav en ' t d iscussed the rest of ' World Superbike race the seaso n becau se this came as a pr etty big surprise to us. o n Jul y 10, Anthony We figu red for dam age control we' d handle this weekend Gobert was gett ing first and beg inning on Tuesd ay of next week (July 14), in to a rental car with when we meet, we will start to talk abo ut wh at' s going to hi s mother , Sue, and happen this weekend. Our truck leaves from here to go to heading to his hotel , Mid -Oh io, so we're going there on th e pr em ise that we th e Va nce & H ines will be compe ting there this weekend. Ducati rid er having "I hope everyone can understan d, we hav e months of just learned th at he'd equity in our program and have worked 'very hard to get been d enied en try to to this point," Vance added. "So whatever the FIM or the the most important U.s. su pe rbike race of the year after AMA tells us, we' re goi ng to abide by. All we can d o is failin g an FIM-issued drug test. keep working as hard as we can. This was a situa tion that The urine test, which was issued on July 1, came back we understood from the beginning. We knew that Anthowith positive results, showing that Gobert had traces of ny was a rid er who was in qu estion when it came to these ma rijuana metabolite in his sys tem, this according to a kind s of things, and we were in a position w here we felt p ress release issued by Vance & Hines Ducati team owner we needed to beat the rid ers here in the United States Terry Vance on Saturday, July 11. . and Anthon y was really the only logical choice that we "Anthony Gobert has been denied entry for the World had. Honestly, up to this point everything has gone really Superbike round at Laguna Seca Raceway due to positive well. We were taken by surprise by this as a team ." results of a drug analysis taken July 1," the release stated . Stran gely, Gobert knew th at he ' d be tested at soine " Res ults that were communicated to Vance & Hines point prior to the World Su pe rbike race - because he'd Ducati on July 10 indicated po sitive presence of marijuana been told so by the FIM. At its Fall Congress in Athens, metabolite. Vance & Hines Ducati regret the incident that Greece, last year, the FIM issued the followi ng statemen t: will nullify the efforts of the entire team and expectations "It was reported on the situ ation of rid er Anthony Gobert, of fans for the World Superbike Laguna Seca Raceway ' dismissed by his team followin g a positive drug test. That event. Vance & Hines Ducati will require Anthony Gobert test was not carried out by the FIM, but by the team. In to und ergo new testing in the upcoming week to insu re order to ass ure the rid ers wh o would be sus cep tible to negative results befor e participating in th e upcoming run ag ainst Mr. Gobert in 1998, in th e case w he re Mr . AMA Mid-Ohio round, July 18-19." Gobert participates in an FIM Championship or Pri ze "I don' t think I should say anything right now ," Gob- event, he should be cont rolled before th e eve n t, for the ert said as he pr epared to d ep art the facility. "It's really whole season." d isappoin ting. I'm going back to the room , and I'll go to Still, Gobert smoked marijuan a in June , follow ing his the gym to release some stress." third-place finish in the AMA Superbike National at New This marks the second time in two years that the Aus- Ha m ps hire Internation al Sp eedwa y, acco rdi ng to a tra lian Gobert ha s run into problems with failed drug release tha t Gobert issued on Sunday, July 12 a t Lagu na tests. Th e first test, issued by the Lucky Strike Su zuki Seca. team, led to his firing in the middle of the 1997 Grand Prix "I was wrong," the release stated. "Just plain wrong. I seaso n. This one leaves not only his internation al racin g d id have a smo ke after Loudon, in celebra tion, whi ch I future in limbo, but also his stand ing in the AMA Series. d idn't realize wo uld be considered a serious problem by Merri ll Vanderslice, the AMA director of professional the FIM. I would never d o it before or during a race, compe tition, was on hand for the Laguna Seca round and because racing is everything to me, and I know that I have stated that the AMA would be looking into th e matter. disappointed a lot of people, most of all my fans and my The next round of the AMA Superbike National Champi- team. But more th an tha t, I am per sonally d ev astated onship, meanwhile, will be held July 18-19 at the Mid- _about all this. I never thought this would happen. I hope O hio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. everyone will chalk this up to a true mistake in judge"We' re looking into it heavily right now," Vanderslice ment, and give me another cha nce to bring hom e victory said on Frida y, July 10. "There are d efinitel y some issues to Terry Vance, Vance & Hines and Ducati ." to add ress, but that's all I know right now." The release went on to quote his mother, Sue Gobert, Supersport World Series riders crashed ou t of the race, which in itself is bad enough. The significance of those two crashes, though, was that it was number nine and 10 for the team on the weekend. James Toseland crashed four times over the cou rse of the weekend and Kirk MCCarthy had three crashes. Superbike rid er Colin Edwards Il crashed in turn four on the last lap of regular qualifying, abo u t which team manager Neil Tu xwo rth said, "The engine was smashed, th e frame, the fork... I've never seen it so bad." Then Edwards crashed on his flying lap in Superpole, though the damage was n' t nearl y as bad. Aaron Slight then cras hed on the rest art of the first World Superbike race. Suzanne Fowler; w ife of motocrosser Terry Fowler, d ied Sunday, July 5, in a boating accident on Lake Hav asu in Arizo na . In addition to her hu sband, Suzanne Fowler is su r vi ve d by her daughter, Britni, he r mother , Rach e l McGhee, her father, Larry McGhee, her brother, David McGhee and her sister, Lisa McGh ee. Cards and letters can be se nt c/o Sunset Paint & Bod y, 15950 Walnut Street, Hesperia, CA 92345. Late night TV talk show hos t Jay Leno ha s ann oun ced he will serv e a s th e Grand Marshal of Lov e Rid e 15, the largest motorcycle fund -raising event in the world, on November 8. Len o will lead a pack of 20,000 moto rcyclists on a 50-mile carav an from Harley-Davidson of Glendale (Californi a) to Castaic Lake in the Santa Clarita Valley. The official _ registration kick -off party will be held on Saturday, August 29 from 11 a.m. to m ar as saying: "An thony was sha ttered by the turn of events at La guna. Anthony' s racin g ca ree r is the single most important thing in his life. All he wants to do is put this behind him and regain the respect of his fans and his fellow racers as the excellen t rid er and person he really is." Iron ically, several eyewitness es saw Gobert consuming alcohol on both Friday and Satu rday nigh ts at the Blue Fin, a popular nightclub in Monterey, Ca lifornia , showing little in the way of remorse. Naturally, the failed drug test was the talk of the paddock at Lagu na Seca. One of the more vocal was Castro l Honda's Aaro n Slight. At the end of his team 's post-qua lifying Cas trol Ho nda p ress conference, the New Zealander posed a question to the throng of journalists in the medi a cen ter : "I heard on Thursd ay th at Gober t wa s put ou t thr ough a drug test, and I ha ven' t heard anything since. Why isn' t anybody reporting on this? Why does this guy get off scot-free and wh y d oes he ge t to race against the American s in two weeks' time (actua lly one wee k... ed itor )? I think that th e Am erican officials need to tak e a stance and I think the ride rs should. The guy has failed a drug test - this is not a small m att er . Why is th is guy going...to come back and race? I think the FIM is trying to protect the series by sayi ng that we do n' t have these people in the series. We've got a bad person in the series; wh y does he get to start?" . Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mlad in also had a comment on the situa tion. "To tell the truth, I think after his second failed test, I think Ducati would be smart to release Anthony from his duties," Mlad in said. "I think it's absolu tely ridiculous . I know there's an AMA championship at stake, but that' s egg on the face at th e highest po ssibl e lev el and these guys are just go in g to let him rid e th eir m ot orcycl e because all they're thinkin g abo u t is an AMA cha m pionship. That's the only reason. If Anthony was 100 po ints behind in the AMA champion ship, would the s tory be different? Would they have said, 'See you later?' Unfortunat ely, for Anthony, everybody kn ew wh at he was up to and it's just unfortunate tha t he was so stu pid. If he wants to play his games and do his stu ff that he does or whatever he' s doing, then don't be so stupid . They even told him he was going to get drug-tested. It's crazy. There's nothing wron g with smoki ng a joint, I gu ess. I' ve never touched the stu ff and I d on 't eve n drink - but th er e' s nothing wr on g with it in its plac e, I su ppose. But when you're on the race track, you don't need to be ou t there wi th people smas hed off their face. All it is is a big waste of talent - that's all it is. What it's done for his career, I don't know." , "Obviously, life's too easy," team own er and forme r thr ee-time World Champion Wayn e Rain ey sai d w he n told of Gobert's failed drug test. "He's got a job to do and he' s not being professional about it. Gu ys like that hav e such an oppo rt unity and suc h a talent. It just gives the sport a bad image and a bad nam e. Basicall y, th e guy screwed up and he can sc rew up his whole life . He 's going to end up being the loser in the whole thing. It's too bad . From wh at I hear, he knew he was going to be tested. If you 've got su ch a problem... Well, you should n' t be racing bikes. The y're dangerous enough without having all this extra stuff floating around and makin g decisions for ' you . I think it's a real shame." Paul Carruthers 3 p.m. at Harley-Davidson of Glendale. The kick-off will feature a concert, barbecue, d ispl ays of th e 1999 Harl e yDa v id s on m otorcycl es , a nd s pecia l g ues t a p p ea ra nc es . Lege nd a ry rock artist Stanle y Mous e, the pioneer of the ' 60s psych ed el ic concert po sters a nd d esigner of th e Gra teful Dead 's s ku lland-roses icon, will unveil his original canvas fo r th e Lo ve Rid e 15 p oster. Limited -ed iti on , signe d copies of th e pos ter w ill be ava ila ble for $10 . The 15th annual eve nt will raise an es tima ted $1.25 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Associat ion and othe r cha rities. For more informa tion on Love Ride 15, call 818/ 246-5618. Traveling pr o MX racers might want to check ou t the Lake County Fair Stadium Motocross in Grays la ke , Ill in o is, followin g th e Jul y 26 Tro y (O h io ) National Mo tocross. On Wednesd a y, July 29, and Thursd ay, July 30, a gu aranteed $13,000 cash purse and $20,000 in manufactur er s' co n tinge ncy from Yamaha , Suzuki and Kaw asaki , will be up for g ra bs in certain classes. Als o, Valv oline w ill s po nsor the Dash Fo r Cash w ith a $500 pa yout for firs t and pa ying back through fourth place . Also, to help pay for your expenses, Up Front Prom ot ion s is offering a Ren t-A-Racer program that will try to hook rid ers up with local bu sin esses for these even ts. All money received from local sponso rs (excep t for eve nt entry fees) goes directly to t he rid ers for gas, m ot el s and ex penses. For more in forina tion, call Bill Sparks a t Up Front Pro mo tio ns a t 815 /538-77 44. Th ese even ts a re preentry only. . 0 3

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