Anthony Gobert

Anthony Gobert (born 5 March 1975 in Greenacre, New South Wales, Australia) is a professional motorcycle road racer nicknamed The Go-Show. He was a rider of immense promise and talent who had his career derailed by a personal struggle with drug abuse. He is the eldest of three racing brothers, which include Aaron and Alex.

In his teens he was a successful motocross racer, winning national classes in Australia, before moving to road racing and winning the Australian domestic superbike championship. He first earned international notice as a wild card at his home Superbike World Championship round at Philip Island in SBK|1994, taking pole position, a win and a third place. Racing full-time in the championship for Muzzy Kawasaki in SBK|1995, he became team leader after Scott Russell's abrupt departure and finished 4th overall, winning races at Laguna Seca and Philip Island. He was 8th in SBK|1996, with 3 wins and 3 other podiums, after missing much of the season through injury.

He went to the 500cc World Championship in 1997 with the Lucky StrikeSuzuki replacing Scott Russell as the number one rider, but was dismissed in mid-season after failing a drug test. For 1998 and 1999 he competed in the AMA Superbike Championship on a Vance and Hines Ducati, with some success, including a win as a WSBK wildcard at Laguna Seca [ [http://www.motorcycledaily.com/gobert.html An Interview with Anthony Gobert ] ] . A win in the second race was within reach, until an unforced crash at the final turn, onto the main straight. The second race was won by his team mate Ben Bostrom.

For SBK|2000 he returned to WSBK on a Suzuki TL1000, v-twin powered, Bimota SB8R. With the race number 501, he won a wet race at Philip Island and generally did better than expected on the machine, before the team folded, due to lack of financial backing. Bimota named the SB8K Gobert bike after him. A 500cc one-off at Donington Park for Kenny Robert's KR3 Modenas Team and three British Superbike meetings (substituting for Steve Hislop at Team Virgin Mobile Yamaha) followed in late 2000.

For 2001 he was back in the AMA championship with Yamaha, spending 2 years racing the YZF OW02 R7 in the superbike class and the YZF R6 in the supersport class respectively. This was followed with a brief dalliance with Ducati in 2003. After some time back in the Australian Superbike series he did two rounds of Supersport World Championship at the start of WorldSS|2006, replacing the injured David Checa [ [http://www.crash.net/news_View~t~Gobert-returns-to-WSBK-as-Valencia-wild-card-~cid~5~id~128238.htm WSBK: Gobert returns to WSBK as Valencia wild-card ] ] . In SBK|2006, he raced at the Valencia Superbike World Championship round (making him the first rider to have wildcard rides in 3 different countries), alongside some rounds of Spain's Superbike series. For 2007 he returned to Australia Superbikes on a Kawasaki.

Legal troubles

According to reports in the Courier Mail, the 33-year-old Gobert was charged with two counts of stealing after taking two $20 bills from the hand of the 70-year-old man at a Coles supermarket in Surfers Paradise on Tuesday, May 13, 2008. The following day, he allegedly snatched a woman's purse on the streets of Surfers, according to the newspaper report.

References

[http://www.mcnews.com.au/Riders/AnthonyGobert/2003_June.htm Career details from mcnews]