Anthony Gobert

Anthony Gobert (5 March 1975 – 17 January 2024) was an Australian 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.

Winning the final leg of the 1994 season at Phillip Island, he became the youngest ever World Superbike race winner at the age of 19 years old, a record that was broken by 18-year-old Yuichi Takeda at Sugo in 1996.

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 Phillip Island in, taking pole position, a win and a third place.

Racing full-time in the championship for Muzzy Kawasaki in, he became team leader after Scott Russell's abrupt departure and finished 4th overall, winning races at Laguna Seca and Phillip Island.

He was 8th in, with 3 wins and 3 other podiums, after missing much of the season through injury.

Gobert went to the 500cc World Championship in 1997 with the Lucky Strike Suzuki 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 & Hines Ducati, with some success, including a win as a WSBK wildcard at Laguna Seca.

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 teammate Ben Bostrom.

For, he returned to WSBK on a Bimota SB8R.

With the race number 501, he won a wet race at Phillip 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.

Gobert raced for MuZ Weber at the end of 1999 season

Three British Superbike meetings (substituting for Steve Hislop at Team Virgin Mobile Yamaha) followed in late 2000.

A 500cc one-off at Donington Park for Kenny Roberts' KR3 Modenas Team followed in late 2000.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

For 2001, he was back in the AMA championship with Yamaha, spending two years racing the YZF R7 in the superbike class and the YZF R6 in the supersport class respectively.

This was followed by 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, replacing the injured David Checa.

In, he raced at the Valencia Superbike World Championship round (making him the first rider to have wildcard rides in three different countries), alongside some rounds of Spain's Superbike series.

For 2007, he returned to Australia Superbikes on a Kawasaki.

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

He was granted bail on condition that he surrender his passport, report to police five times a week and not enter central Surfers Paradise.

In June 2019, Gobert was reported to have been involved in an altercation at a restaurant.

Afterwards, he was followed home by a number of individuals whom he had earlier fought with.

They forced their way into Gobert's home, robbed him, and beat him with baseball bats.

He was beaten beyond recognition.

Hospital staff were only able to identify him after he had regained consciousness.

In January 2024, news agencies reported that Gobert had been receiving end-of-life care on the Gold Coast, Queensland, for an undisclosed illness.

He died on 17 January, at the age of 48.