After his tremendous success at Sear’s Point a few weeks ago (victory in both AMA Superbike and 600 Supersport classes), Anthony Gobert essentially had a disastrous weekend at the “Big Kahuna” Superbike double header at Road Atlanta. A mechanical DNF on day one in the superbike class, combined with mediocre finishes in the second superbike race on Sunday and the supersport race, was a stark contrast with his Sears Point results.
Having opened the season with a superbike DNF at Daytona, Gobert is virtually out of the championship race in that class. Although just one point out of the supersport championship lead, Gobert came back to the US to capture nothing less than the superbike championship. He is the first rider in the US to find the top step of the podium on the Yamaha R7. With fellow Australian Mat Mladin runing away with the superbike championship, Gobert’s focus will be on race wins rather than consistent finishes. Gobert still needs to show that he is a World Superbike level talent, and he clearly wants to return to the world championship scene.
While Yamaha has enjoyed tremendous success in Supercross with Jeremy McGrath, Gobert is the first real roadracing star for Yamaha to emerge in several years here in the United States. The R7 seems well suited to Gobert, and we are betting that Sears Point was no fluke. Absent further mechanical problems, expect to see Gobert take podium positions and victories frequently throughout the remainder of the superbike season.
