Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Briefly... Gobert Back To Honda A nthony Gobert has come full circle, /"'\returning to Honda. the manufacturer he left in Australia in 1994 to pursue an intem ational racing career that's seen him program to make it viable, though Anthony 's incent ive program is no differe nt from Alex's, accord ing to Ame rican Honda tea m manage r Chuc k Miller. Last year, Mille r took a chance on anothe r rider many felt was past his sell-by dat e, but it' s tumed out to be a w ise move . "My analogy for Anthony is much like Kevin Windham," Miller said. "Kevin Windham walked away from the sport w ith a broken femu r and kind of gave up a factory milllcn-dollar ride with Suzuki and went home and regrouped and started fresh again. He started w ith his familyand got his head together and his mind together and his body together and then decided he wanted to start riding. When he came back last year, his was completely incentive based, and look what he did with it; the first rider to beat RickyCarmichael in an outdoor in a year and a half.Anthony 's in the same position. It's all up to Anthony now to turn this thing back around." Miller acknowle dged t hat Gob e rt's checker ed past has kept him from walking back into a factory Superbike tea m. "For Antho ny to walk back right in and go to Team Y amaha or Suzuki or Honda isn't Bu ell Mot o rcycle Co m pany and Buell Riders Adventure Group (BRAG), the facto ry sponsored club for Buell owners, recently announced a new road racing support program for 2004, with $70 ,SOO in contingency paid to racers aboard Buell motorcy- Erion said Gobert has a one -year contra ct wi th incenti ve s w ith Erio n Racing. American Honda has jo ined in the incentive ride everyth ing from a Suzuki RGV-Soo to a Bimota in World Superbi ke and everything in between. The soon-to-be 29-year-o ld Australian will be back in the United States next yea r aboard an Erion Hond a, racing in the new Superstock class along with his younger brother Alex. The question is, which Anthony Gobert w ill show up? Will it be the o ne w hose brill iance on a racebike is unquestioned o n tho se rare occasions w hen all the stars line up? Or the one whose offtra ck antics and lack of discipline have caused him to go through more motorcycl es in the past decade than the L.A.P.D? Team owner Kevin Erion, like everyone else in racing. is aware of Gobert's history. "I kind of have th is attitude, and it's the same I had when Freddi e [Spencer] joined our team in '9 1: This is an opportunity for both of us. If you want to do it, it's great. If you don't want to do it. it's meaningless for both of us. My goal is to give him a bike that 's capable of winning and have a winning ride r show up. I think his goal is to prove he's capable of w inning and moving forwa rd. He has to show everybody that he has what it takes , and he wants to do it. That 's where I am . My viewpoin t is, I hope he' s hungry and that he will the n win on my team and then go somewhere else." So m ew he re else in this case means the American Honda Supe rbike team. '!\merican Honda is like everybody else; we all want to win," Erion said. "Ifyou have a winning ride r, there's no reason to let him go anywhere else . There's a little bit of history that shows Amer ican Ho nda is willing to kee p you in the family as long as the results are there. It wou ldn't be a new ste p for a new ride r to move from Erion Racing to American Honda. If that happen s, it mea ns goo d things have happe ned. " realistic at this po int in his career," Mille r said. "Not right now. Maybe in six months, maybe in four mo nths . He might come in her e and just start whoo ping up right from the get-go, and I wouldn't be surpri sed at all if that happens , and if it doe s, those doo rs will begin to open." Gobert, who's tied with Eric Bostrom for 11 th place on the AMA all-time Super bike wins list with II , was looking at ot he r options, and Erion was talking with Sue Gobert, who manages her sons' careers, when the subject of Anthony came up. "I just said her e's an idea . And it went fro m that idea to a job ," Erion said. "O bvio usly, there was a fair amount of ti me cles in the eight-round national Formula that went by. He wa nted to see what opt ions he had in front of him. When the time came that we could put something down, we did. It was out there floating for a wh ile, but it was noth ing serious until he w as able to comm it to it:' H onda was satisfied w ith Erion's team structure; Alex Gobert in Formula Xtrem e and Superstock and Jake Zem ke in FX and Superbike, but Erion wanted more. "I wanted someone on the open Superstock bike that I felt could run up front right away, and I think Alex can grow into it," Erion said. "If Anthony Gobert show s up at the racet rack, I think we have someone w ho w ill run up fron t. If the racer shows up. we 're going racing." There likely wo n't be any chance for Anth ony to ride befo re Daytona. The team's te sting next week at Ca lifornia Speed way with Alex, but Anthony's sorting out visaissues, which Erion said take longer and longer in the wake of 9/ II . Owe n Coles , who worked with Gobe rt on the Vance & Hines Ducati te am, will be his lead mechan ic. Rick Hob bs is the Erion Racing crew chief, and there will be one more mechanic. The Honda CBRIOOORRs are in short supply and late in coming. They expect to have two machines and enough spares to build an extra machine, if needed , at Daytona. Henny Ray Abrams USAThunderbike class. Buell and BRAG will offer Buell racers $8000 per race in contingency paid back to 15th place, in addition to Formula USA:s $2000 Thunderbike purse, plus a $6SOO championship bonus for Buell racers paid back to fifth place, supplemented by Formula USA:s $SSOO championship bonus . "We 're proud to support the efforts of privateer Buell racers in Formula USA:s Nat ional Thu nderbike class, and with BRAG's help, we were able to increase the purse of our contingency program by 15 percent," said Erik Buell, chairman and chief technica l officer of Buell Motorcycle Company. The Formula USAThunderbike class will be a featured event at all eight Formu la USA National Road Race Series rounds. The events will be held at Daytona International Spee dway, February 26-29; Road America, April 23-2S; Summit Point Raceway, May 29-3 1; New Hampshire Intemational Speedway, June 18-20; Virginia Intemational Raceway, June 2S-27; Barber Motorsports Park, August 13-15; Las Vegas Classic Course, September 24-26 ; and the Daytona finale, October 22-24. Buell's Henry Duga and the Buell RacingSupport Vanwill be present at each F-USANational event to provide assistance to Buell race rs. Formula USA:s 2003 Thunderbike class champion Dave Estok is expected to defend his tide against fellow Buell racers Dan Bilansky, Bryan Bemisderfer, Jeff Johnson , Richie Morris, Joe Roszynski and many others, including ride rs aboa rd Suzuki, Ducat i, Honda , Yamahaand BMW moto rcycles . Ignore the rum ors: Round two of the AMA Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championships, the Ricky Graham Me morial Indoor Short Track scheduled for May I at the Cow Pa lace in San Francisco, California, is on . The event is be ing Lange Pulls Clear held on the same weekend as the AMA Superbike Series round at Infineon Raceway Canadian Darcy Lange continued his run at the Nat ional Arenacross Champ ionship, winning three of four main events at the Pepsi Ce nter in Denver, Colorado, February 13-14. Head ing into the Denver event, Lange held a 7 1-point lead over Shogun Moto rsports Y amaha 's Tommy Hofmaster. Now that lead is up to 85 points. The only hiccup in Lange's weeke nd was a crash in Saturday night's 12Scc main eve nt. but he still managed to re mount and finish third. The rest of the races we re all Lange. Tho r Yamaha Tuf Racing's Chad Johnson ended up picking up tw o second-place finishes in the 250cc main event on Friday night and the I25cc main event on Saturday night. In the 250cc main event , Johnson finished third. Lange and his Team Green Chevy Truck Pro Circuit Richmo nd Kawasaki now look set in nearby Sonoma, offering race fanstwo National Championship events in one weekend . In addition to the short track , there wiil be a full motorcycle show consisting of three classes: custom, racing and historical. Cow Palace promoter Super. Moto Productions Inc. has established a relationship with the Clayton Memorial Foundation. The event will benefit the Clayton Memorial Foundation in three-time series champion Ricky Graham's name . Barry Sheene's widow Stepha nie will wave the checkered flag when the winne r crosses the finish line at the season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne next month , according to Eurosport. Sheene, a two-time SOOcc World Champion, died on March 10 of last year, the day after the Australian F I race . "I'm not a person who seeks the limelight, but I was very touched when the Australian to earn the crown in Sacramento, California, February 20-21. . . . . . __ . _ • • _1 ...- _ ,.v".,r •• r ••• 10 _ r r ... n l l .. n~ l,..r ,..,..,... ft

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