Well, if you MUST keep it as text, I would do:
$text_to_remove = " user2";
$string = str_replace($text_to_remove, "", $string);
This should do what you need it to... note the space in front of user2 in $text_to_remove, this should force it to format the string how you like it, however, look into using an array, that is a much nicer solution.
Hope that helps!
Chris King