Image: Supplied.

Longtime Australian international Anthony Gobert sadly passed away at 48 years of age on Wednesday, 17 January, following a short illness.

Gobert had won the 1994 Australian Superbike Championship with Honda before arriving on the world stage that year, winning on debut with Muzzy Kawasaki at Phillip Island.

In emerging as one of the brightest young prospected in the sport, he went on to win a total of eight World Superbike races during his career – primarily with Muzzy Kawasaki in 1995 and 1996. A career-best of fourth in the standings was earned as a rookie in 1995.

A shortened stint for Suzuki in the 500GP World Championship during 1997 was followed by an extended term in the American Superbike Championship, where Gobert won 11 races across Ducati and Yamaha machinery, in addition to making numerous more 500GP, WorldSBK and British Superbike starts during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Outside of Gobert’s success with Kawasaki in WorldSBK, he won a race as a wildcard at Laguna Seca in 1999, while he also famously delivered Bimota a WorldSBK victory at Phillip Island in 2000, which was his last in the category. His final world championship start came in World Supersport at Phillip Island during 2006 with the GMT94 Yamaha team.

Prior to his road racing career, Gobert had won the 1991 (125cc) and 1992 (250cc) Supercross Masters titles as a teenager following what had been an illustrious upbringing in junior competition.

Gobert’s star largely shone as bright off the bike, building a legion of fans globally during his career, highly-regarded for a charming demeanour despite battling demons throughout his journey and, unfortunately, into life post-racing. It was revealed last week that he had been placed in palliative care, just days before his passing while hospitalised on the Gold Coast.

Godspeed Anthony Gobert, 1975-2024. He is survived by his mother Suzanne, as well as younger brothers Aaron and Alex, who is the founder of CycleOnline.