Behind the scenes at Vance and Hines

Terry Vance was laying in bed Thursday night in his hotel room in Colorado Springs, thinking about congratulating Anthony Gobert.

"I was thinking that when he raced here that this was the first time in three seasons that Anthony has finished the season. I thought that really stood for something. Showed some progress."

Moments later, at 12:30 am Friday morning, the phone in Vance's room started ringing. He stared at it for several rings, knowing it meant trouble. He picked it up and said, "Tell me Jim, what did Anthony do this time?".

And it was indeed Vance and Hines crewchief Jim Leonard on the phone, telling Vance that Gobert would not be riding at Pike's Peak, that he'd injured his shoulder crashing a motocross bike. They chatted for a few minutes, and then started assembling a short list of replacement riders. Mike Smith was called at 1:00am and asked to get on a plane ASAP from Atlanta.

Some within the Vance and Hines team doubt that Gobert is injured and feel that he just didn't want to ride.

Gobert has been thus far unavailable for comment.

Sources in Grand Prix say that is is virtually assured that Gobert will ride the MuZ 500 at Phillip Island in a few weeks time. Many feel he will win.

--Dean Adams