Gobert return imminent?

Rumours in the World Superbike paddock at Valencia suggest that Bimota could be returning to the fold in the near future, less than a month after they announced their temporary withdrawal from the championship due to a lack of finance.

The Italian squad had been making their first appearance in the World Superbike Championship since 1989 with their Suzuki engined SB8K machine. The team stunned the entire WSB paddock by winning only the third race of the season in a rain effected triumph at Philip Island but since then the squad have been plagued by unreliability problems and an injury to its rider Anthony Gobert.

The team believed they had secured a deal with Levi's jeans after agreeing to work with Prince Ibrahim Malik, the man who bought and sold the Arrows Formula One team last season. However, just when the money was needed, Malik seemingly disappeared and the team had no option but to close its doors after the Hockenheim round of the series.

Gobert has remained with the team and has built up a strong relationship with Bimota team boss Virginio Ferrari in what is a trying year for both men. Ferrari is trying to run a team with little finance and a bike with virtually no testing behind it. Gobert meanwhile is trying to rebuild his shattered reputation after he was fired from Grand Prix racing for failing a routine cannabis test.

After a fortnight of inactivity, the team have regrouped and plan to take in a two day test at Misano this week. If finance can be found, the squad may reappear in August at Brands Hatch for even with an injection of finance, a trip to Laguna Seca in two weeks is definitely out of the question.

Many within the WSB family want to see this small band of enthusiastic men and the flamboyant Gobert return to action as they have been treated highly unfairly by some of their ex-business associates who seem to have left them for dead. It would be nice to see them return, but as everyone involved in motorsport knows, sentiment holds no weight on the track.