Copyright Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
On the cool-off lap for the 600cc Supersport race at Laguna Seca, Anthony Gobert and Jamie Hacking made contact repeatedly, and it wasn’t any accident. Both riders agree that contact was made; in fact, both riders readily admitted they intentionally hit the other rider.
According to both riders, Hacking was going into turn five, waving to the crowd. Gobert came up on the inside of Hacking and clipped his clutch lever, putting Hacking into a wobble. Hacking pulled up on the left side of Gobert and backhanded him in the helmet. Then Gobert pulled up alongside Hacking and started kicking at his bike.
The reason? According to Gobert, Hacking cut across the front of his Yamaha in turn two at the start of the race. Gobert was entirely unapologetic about his actions, saying instead that when he was kicking at Hacking, “I would have liked a little better impact, too. It’s frustrating, being so injured because he needs a good smack in the mouth. It’s one thing if it’s racing, but he does it on purpose. He thinks it’s funny.”
It seems that Gobert’s complaints against Hacking have been accumulating over a period of time. While discussing this incident, Gobert mentioned that Hacking ran into him at Road Atlanta.
When told the nature of Gobert’s complaint, Hacking said, “That’s it? If I’d hit him, it would be something different, I didn’t do it on purpose. If he can’t handle it, he shouldn’t be here. The problem is he can’t get up the balls to come talk to me face to face. He needs to straighten his act out. It’s racing. I’m fighting my way to the front. I’m sure it was close, but nobody even touched.”
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