For the past ten years, every Superbike World Championship crown has been worn by either Jonathan Rea, Toprak Razgatlioglu, or Alvaro Bautista. But with Toprak moving to MotoGP to compete for the Pramac Yamaha team in 2026, and Bautista and Rea currently without a seat for the 2026 WSBK season, what’s left to watch?
Jonathan Rea, who collected six consecutive titles with Kawasaki starting in 2015, was proceeded by Toprak Razgatlioglu, who took home the title for Yamaha in 2021. Then, a pair of victories followed for Alvaro Bautista with Ducati in 2022 and 2023. Last year’s title was won, again, by Toprak, who had moved to BMW, the only rider to collect two championships with two different manufacturers.
Before these three, the WorldSBK was had a scattered assortment of winning riders, to include Tom Sykes who brought the title back to Kawasaki in 2013, Carl Fogarty who holds the third highest number 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, among others.
But what's next?
Since the WorldSBK championship was founded in 1988, it has always been a proving ground for “heavily modified production sports motorcycles.” As a kid, I watched Carl Fogarty collect wins on his Ducti 916, which lead me to apply for a job washing bikes at the local Ducati dealership in Seattle, long before I was old enough to ride one, let alone afford one. The fact that I could see the same bike in a WSBK race on the showroom floor was intoxicating.
I could be Carl!
And while interest in WSBK may have been small in comparison to other motorcycle racing series in the United States, namely the AMA Superbike Championship that housed stars like Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies, both were a great example of the old adage, “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.” But selling means having stars – racers that break the proverbial mold, and whose legacy lives on, long after they’ve retired from racing. Stars that give fans a reason to tune in, and to follow the series.
With the Superbike World Championship losing its top three stars, where does that leave WSBK moving forward? Although both Rea and Bautista have expressed interest in continuing to race, and are now considering private teams, Rea is 38 years-old, and Bautista is already 40. That’s ancient in the world of motorsport, so even if they do find rides, the likelihood they’ll remain competitive on a privateer bike is low.
Meanwhile, the remainder of the WSBK roster is made up of young riders that no one has heard of, given that the series has been dominated by Rea, Razgatlioglu, or Bautista for the past decade. So, where does WSBK go from here?
Danilo Petrucci, who finished third in the Superbike World Championship last year, will succeed Razgatlioglu at BMW, with his seat on the Barni Ducati possibly being filled by Rea. Andrea Iannone, who competed in the MotoGP World Championship from 2013 to 2019, and has since been racing in WorldSBK, is 36 years-old and without a seat for next season as well. All of this is a huge blow to the series, likely losing its top three stars in 2026, and leaving no one to fill their shoes.
The series needs to draw in new talent, but with the acquisition of MotoGP by Liberty Media and the tremendous growth Grand Prix racing has seen in the last few years, not to mention a growing interest in the MotoAmerica coupled with a global video distribution deal, why would a young talent aim for a seat in WSBK over MotoGP?
