Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128381
Aaron Gobert finally did in 2004 what the other Gobert brothers have yet to be able to do up until this point: win a road racing championship. Not only did Aaron win a championship, it Wl!S one of the most hotly contested classes in the AHA series. It's been a long road back to success after a near-career-ending and life-threatening crash during the 600cc Supersport race at Daytona in 2002. Exiting the chicane, Aaron's bike got Sideways, and his brother Anthony had nowhere to go and crashed into him. Tommy Hayden had nowhere to go and was caught up in the mayhem as well. Aaron suffered two broken vertebrae, a collapsed lung, broken tibia and fibula, broken ankle, and head injuries. It's been a long haul, but Aaron had a good 2004, getting on the po<\ium six times and taking one win to secure the Superstock championship and also getting married to his longtime girlfriend, Melanie Riley, in October. This season has been more of a struggle; he currently sits eighth in the Superstock points and fifth in Supersport. We spoke to Aaron prior to the Barber AMA event in April. en: How does It feel to get th~ monkey off your back Clnd go into this season with a championship under your belt? aarongobert: It's really good. It's going to be tough to defend the title, but it's really good to have the number-one plate and be able to display it and show everyone what I accomplished in 2004. en: How hard has it been to get to where you are after the huge crash at Daytona In 2002? aarongobert: Daytona 2002 was a really big setback. My preparation for Daytona every year [since the accident] was intense, I was flat out everyday doing something to recover from that accident full stop. To come back in 2004 and win Daytona [Superstock], that was good revenge. After all that, to win the championship and finish the job, and to give [Chuck] Graves his first championship - that guy works endlessly. It was really good. I finally got my career back on track, and got the monkey off my back. en: Are you disappointed that Yamaha hasn't jumped into the Superblke Championship with theRI? aarongobert: I don't really understand the politics to it all. Because I know there is a lot more to it than just saying, "We can't be bothered doing it." I personally would like to be racing in the premier class, but not doing it isn't a big deal. I actually feel like we get more credit for racing Superstock on production bikes than what we would if we raced Superbikes. At Daytona, I passed Hodgson in turn one, and later he said, "That thing is incredible, it's a stock bike and it's so qUick." It's pretty rewarding to race Superstock and Supersport anyway. en: What are your aspirations beyond 2005? aarongobert: I'd like to win another AMA title, and obViously a premier class title would be the goal. Then go to MotoGP, that's definitely where I want to end up, because if you look at a lot of other riders who have made it to MotoGp, they are still there. The top guys like Rossi are the best guys in the world. For a World Superbike guy to go there and finish top-ten is still respectable. Guys like Hodgson come to America and race and they don't win straight away, so if you look at what we are doing [in the AHA series], it is pretty competitive; if we got to MotoGP, we'd be able to stay there. I feel that going there would be the next step in my career. But first just stay here and catch up on the couple of years I missed out on with the injuries. B/alce CGflner Mike Brown: Back From Europe overall, other than James Stewart. This year he decided to go over to Europe to compete in the MX2 World Motocross Championship Series. Brown, however, returned after only competing in one round of the series. He put together his own privateer effort and returned to the United States to try his hand once again at the 12Scc National Championship. So far everything has gone better than Brown could have ever imagined. At the opening round of the series at in Hangtown Raceway Sacramento, California, Brown finished second overall after finishing a consistent 3-2 in the motos. With backing from one of his old sponsors from his minicycle days, Jim's Cycle Sales, Brown is qUickly becoming one of the favorites for the 125cc National Championship. We caught up with Brown right before he went 7-1 for third overall at the second round of the series at High Point Raceway in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania. CN: How does it feel to come back from Europe and finish second at the opening round? mikebrown: It was good, for sure. Getting everything together, being a privateer and trying to get everything lined up was good, I was happy with that. I went there to get top-three and I got second. I just rode. Being consistent both motos I think helped me. CN: Can you elaborate on why you decided to return from Europe? mikebrown: Just the team didn't work out. There was a little bit of money problems, and the team wasn't what Iexpected when I went there, but it's all getting handled now. I'm glad I'm back here. It's good having my own thing; it's a lot less pressure and I'm having fun racing. CN: Didn't you just sign with a new water sponsor? mikebrown: Yeah, Deluge Water. My main sponsor is Jim's Motorcycle out of Johnson City. That guy [pointing to owner in pits], he's the owner there, Kurt Hayes. They got the truck for me. They pay for everything, the bikes and the parts. They help a lot. Without those guys, it would be hard to get the bikes and parts to do it. Everything is good, Pro Circuit does the bike, and the bike seems good. I think all the bikes are pretty good out there. The four-strokes, they're all equal and pretty close. So I think if you just got some [bikes] pretty close, you will be all right. CN: You've been racing for quite some time now. How many more years do you think you have left? mikebrown: I don't know. I'm going to do this year and maybe next year, and that will probably be it. I want to have my own team. Next year I want to be a little bit bigger than what I am now. Maybe have another rider or so. Maybe go up to a bigger truck. But we'll see how this year goes first.