For the previous ten years, each Superbike World Championship crown has been worn by both Jonathan Rea, Toprak Razgatlioglu, or Alvaro Bautista. However with Toprak shifting to MotoGP to compete for the Pramac Yamaha staff in 2026, and Bautista and Rea at the moment and not using a seat for the 2026 WSBK season, what’s left to look at?
Jonathan Rea, who collected six consecutive titles with Kawasaki beginning in 2015, was proceeded by Toprak Razgatlioglu, who took house the title for Yamaha in 2021. Then, a pair of victories adopted for Alvaro Bautista with Ducati in 2022 and 2023. Final yr’s title was received, once more, by Toprak, who had moved to BMW, the one rider to gather two championships with two completely different producers.
Earlier than these three, the WorldSBK was had a scattered assortment of profitable riders, to incorporate Tom Sykes who introduced the title again to Kawasaki in 2013, Carl Fogarty who holds the third highest variety of race wins (59) behind Jonathan Rea and Álvaro Bautista, and Colin Edwards a two-time World Superbike champion who went on to compete in MotoGP, amongst others.
However what’s subsequent?
For the reason that WorldSBK championship was based in 1988, it has at all times been a proving floor for “closely modified manufacturing sports activities bikes.” As a child, I watched Carl Fogarty gather wins on his Ducti 916, which lead me to use for a job washing bikes on the native Ducati dealership in Seattle, lengthy earlier than I used to be sufficiently old to journey one, not to mention afford one. The truth that I might see the identical bike in a WSBK race on the showroom ground was intoxicating.
I may very well be Carl!
And whereas curiosity in WSBK might have been small compared to different motorbike racing collection in the USA, particularly the AMA Superbike Championship that housed stars like Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies, each have been a terrific instance of the outdated adage, “Win on Sunday, promote on Monday.” However promoting means having stars – racers that break the proverbial mould, and whose legacy lives on, lengthy after they’ve retired from racing. Stars that give followers a cause to tune in, and to comply with the collection.
With the Superbike World Championship dropping its high three stars, the place does that go away WSBK shifting ahead? Though each Rea and Bautista have expressed curiosity in persevering with to race, and are actually contemplating personal groups, Rea is 38 years-old, and Bautista is already 40. That’s historic on this planet of motorsport, so even when they do discover rides, the chance they’ll stay aggressive on a privateer bike is low.
In the meantime, the rest of the WSBK roster is made up of younger riders that nobody has heard of, on condition that the collection has been dominated by Rea, Razgatlioglu, or Bautista for the previous decade. So, the place does WSBK go from right here?
Danilo Petrucci, who completed third within the Superbike World Championship final yr, will succeed Razgatlioglu at BMW, together with his seat on the Barni Ducati presumably being crammed by Rea. Andrea Iannone, who competed within the MotoGP World Championship from 2013 to 2019, and has since been racing in WorldSBK, is 36 years-old and and not using a seat for subsequent season as effectively. All of this can be a big blow to the collection, seemingly dropping its high three stars in 2026, and leaving nobody to fill their footwear.
The collection wants to attract in new expertise, however with the acquisition of MotoGP by Liberty Media and the large progress Grand Prix racing has seen in the previous couple of years, to not point out a rising curiosity within the MotoAmerica coupled with a global video distribution deal, why would a younger expertise goal for a seat in WSBK over MotoGP?
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