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We receive and gladly publish this letter from a colleague who worked closely with all the Superbike riders of the Golden Era.
by Silvano Di Giovanni (former Flammini Racing video and communication manager)
Dear Paolo,
Please allow me a personal memory of Anthony Gobert. His passing pains me, it hurts me. I interviewed him, I often spoke to him when he arrived in superbike. I remember him very well on Sunday afternoon, after the first victorious race in Australia in '94, with a bottle of beer in his hand, in a Hawaiian-style shirt and Bermuda shorts, making fun of Corser. Very young, mischievous, full of life.
He was a rider of immense talent. For me perhaps the greatest in terms of pure talent, and I have seen riders from Saarinen onwards... Of course, we both know that pure talent is not enough to become champions, but what a spectacle to see it!
The first time I happened to appreciate him at work from a few meters away I was at Phillip Island. 1994. I had already noticed him at Sugo a few races before, the only time he had raced, but there you couldn't go around the track to take a real look due to the lack of a service road along the entire track.
First free practice on Friday, first time on that bike. I'm at Turn 4, the famous hairpin where we have seen everything and more at Phillip Island. You get there from a big bend taken at more than 200 km/h and you basically brake while you're still almost leaning. We are on the track to check some camera positions. I see three riders arrive, one of the motorbikes is a green Kawasaki. It's Gobert. He joins the other two on the outside (I think they were Corser and Slight but I might be wrong) on the big bend. A diehard lift-off to enter the curve. On the inside he brakes so hard that it seems that the fork will split. The rear wheel spins wildly, the rear axle rises by 20-30 cm. No, he can't do it, he's not going to make it... With the bike waving around left and right, Gobert also locks up the front wheel which shoots out white smoke. Christ, I tell myself, he's on the ground! And instead, with two twelve-sided balls, he controls it as if nothing had happened, and throws the bike into the curve. He heads to the apex like a runaway horse and gets on the throttle on the exit putting the bike sideways... I had never seen anything like this (and I have seen everything). Fok… I looked at the others who were with me. But this guy is a phenomenon! An Australian from the TV crew sneers: I think the others are going to go back to the pits and tear up their license!
Gobert… a nineteen-year-old who I had seen arrive at the racetrack on Wednesday with a motorbike stuck on the seats in his glass-fronted van. Rob Muzzy, him from the factory Kawasaki (Russell), had hired him for the race after it ended badly with Honda after the Sugo test. Yes, because already in Japan I remember he had already shown those who were watching carefully what kind of rider he was. Never seen the track, never used Michelins. In race 1 he finished eighth, 8 seconds behind Slight glued to the factory rider Aoki. In race 2 he was first of the Hondas, ahead of Slight in the sprint finish, which was not exactly commendable considering the situation in the championship... The question is: why did Honda get rid of him if they believed in him enough to give him an official bike? Someone who was in fact an unknown? The answer was his impossible character, crazy, disrespectful, he was uncontrollable... And this didn't go down well with the serious Honda men...
Going back to Phillip Island, with the official Kawasaki, never ridden before, he took pole position. He was third in race 1 and beat everyone in race 2, first with 15 seconds on Fogarty.
And then how can we forget those two historic overtaking moves against Kocinski at Laguna Seca and Misano.
At Misano he passed Kocinski on the outside of the Curvone and anyone who remembers when the circuit ran in the opposite direction knows that this was considered impossible. He didn't just do it in the race, but also in practice! I remember that Kocinski, after the shame of that overtaking move, immediately returned to the pits as angry as ever... Kocinski... on the outside of the Curvone at Misano!
But it was at Laguna Seca that he created his masterpiece. In the left turn after the Corkscrew, overtaking on the outside is impossible with riders of that level. It can't be done. But Gobert did it. I remember the American cameraman who was framing him from behind and shouting into his headphones “he’s going to go flying!” But no! He stayed on the inside and passed Kocinski under braking. A small detail. That curve, at the entrance and up to the middle, leans inwards, in your favour, but at the exit if you are too far from the outside it changes and becomes a bit of a counter-slope! I still wonder how he didn't go off on a tangent!
Incidentally: Laguna Seca, never seen before, victory in race 1 and second in race 2 behind Corser.
The regret is what could have been if only he had had his head in order. He self-destructed, but what remains in the mind is that incredible way of riding, with extraordinary control of the vehicle. For me only Spencer and Saarinen had that something. And just think that we are talking about the period in which electronics were yet to come, the gears were rattled off one after the other with the lever and the gearbox and the clutch... you had to rape the motorbikes to make them go where you wanted... the throttle wasn't on/off, if you weren't careful you'd put the bike upside down...
Photo courtesy: Dean Adams, Superbikeplanet
In this captivating throwback photo from Misano World Superbike (WSBK) several decades ago, we witness the incredible phenomenon surrounding racer Anthony Gobert, fondly known as "Goey." The sheer magnetism of his presence was such that it seemed impossible to take him anywhere without him being enthusiastically mobbed by his adoring fans. What truly set the 'Show apart was his genuine warmth and affection for his supporters; he was just as thrilled to see his fans as they were to catch a glimpse of their racing hero. This heartfelt connection between Gobert and his loyal following made each encounter a memorable and cherished moment for all involved (from Superbikeplanet).
