WorldSBK star Anthony Gobert on a Kawasaki in 1996 – after an impressive career, the highly talented Australian never fully got his life back under control. After a life in the gutter, he died prematurely in the palliative care unit of Strathfield Municipality Hospital in New South Wales on January 17, 2024, leaving behind a sad family and motorsport community.

The sad end of a huge talent in two-wheeled sports

His career never had the glamor of some of his illustrious compatriots like Troy Bayliss, Troy Corser or Casey Stoner. In retrospect, it is pointless to wonder whether he lacked sufficient hard work or tenacious will, or whether he was simply unlucky too often. However, you also have to take into account that in his best years he had a similar fate to many of Valentino Rossi’s competitors in the first years of MotoGP. On “The Go Show”, as many called him at the time, “King Carl” Fogarty was the man who dominated the scene at the time before a terrible accident in Phillip Island (Australia) reduced him to spectator status. However, Anthony Gobert still managed to inspire a large number of fans and enter the golden 90s with impressive results. At a time when the Prototype Motorcycle World Championship was often viewed with envy by the number of visitors to WorldSBK. In his private life, the talented Australian failed horribly after his career, which was also contributed to by the accidental death of his long-time girlfriend in 2004. Even during his playing days, Gobert was associated with an unhealthy cocktail of alcohol and drugs. Afterwards, Gobert slipped further and further and even came into conflict with the law several times. We prefer not to mention any details at this point. Now he found peace – rest in peace, Anthony!

Anthony Gobert on a Kawasaki – that was often an unbeatable combination in the golden 90s of the WSBK. The fast man from Greenacre also tried his hand at MotoGP, but was unable to match his brilliant results in the Superbike World Championship.

The detailed and richly illustrated WorldSBK years of Anthony in our history

If you are more interested in these golden years of the series-based World Cup and the career of “The Go Show”, the following link is recommended. Before the Covid pandemic, when we couldn’t find a sufficiently documented summary of information about the history of WorldSBK, we reached into our huge archive and started sorting through everything. The result is our very detailed and richly illustrated WorldSBK History on this page, from the early years to modern times. Just as it is now being worked on for the Motorcycle World Championship and is being published on an ongoing basis.

WSBK 1995-1999

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© WorldSBK).