Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Aaron Gobert won two CCS sprint races September 25-26 while testing changes to his Graves Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock bike at the site of the AMA season finale, Virginia International Raceway (VIR).

“(Jamie) Hacking didn’t get to do the (team) test (in early-August), so he hadn’t ridden a 1000 there and wanted to come. So if you bring one guy you have to bring everybody, you know,” said Gobert, when asked about the origin of the test, which was attended by Gobert, Hacking, Jason DiSalvo but not Damon Buckmaster.

While Hacking and DiSalvo pitted during the CCS races to make changes, Gobert made every hot lap he could and ended up winning the GTO solo endurance event, which he holeshotted from the fifth row, and the Unlimited Grand Prix, without serious challenge.

The young Australian didn’t claim the wins, however, saying, “We told them to disqualify us. We told them don’t give us points and don’t give us prize money. We didn’t want to interfere with the points and prize money for the guys who are working hard to get there, you know? One guy told me he spent all day Friday fitting tires at some other ride day to be able to afford to come to the race. It makes you feel bad if you go there and take all their money and points and that kind of stuff. It was track time. That’s all it was, really.”

And it was valuable track time, according to Gobert, “It was a good day. I got a lot out of it. I got my bike feeling 100 times better than what it felt at the test, the front end feel. I had a completely different fork spec than DiSalvo and Hacking and, I think, Buckmaster, as well. As soon as I went to their set-up, it was just an incredible difference. I’m looking forward to coming back here for the AMA race now.”

As for Gobert’s wedding, which was originally planned for October 6 in Australia – after the postponed AMA season finale September 17-19 at VIR, Gobert has changed his wedding plans in favor of defending his AMA Superstock Championship points lead at the re-scheduled AMA season-ender October 9-10. Gobert is now planning to marry his longtime girlfriend Melanie Riley over Halloween weekend in Sydney, Australia.