World Superbikes, the production/road bike motorcycle championship which runs as a down to earth real world alternative to MotoGP, has had a rough few years since it’s heyday in the 1990s. When MotoGP changed it’s technical regulations to closely mirror the World Superbikes spec (1000cc four stroke engines) many motorcycle manufacturers bailed to go straight to the premier competition. That should not have been such a problem as WSB teams traditionally have been privateer rather than works teams but for the last 5 years but the decision of Kawasaki to stick with WSB meant that the single factory squad, dedicated only to that competition, began to seriously dominate the sport.
It looked like this might change in 2019 as Ducati returned with a serious challenge in the form of a new MotoGP inspired team and rider. We found instead that not only have Kawasaki have some of the best hardware, and probably the best team, they also have a rider in Northern Ireland’s Jonathan Rea that really can be compared with the best of all time. Ducati’s 2019 WSB team was almost a semi-MotoGP effort and took an imediate lead to mid season with Alvaro Bautista on the exotic Desmossedici, and yet Rea’s grit, teancity and race craft still came through to win his 5th championship in a row.
Rea is still the favourite for 2020 but the forces opposing him grow ever stronger. 5 different anaufacturers in the top 7 in testing suggests the other manufacturers are taking this competition much more seriously.
After years of dominance with Mark Marquez in MotoGP Honda have returned to Superbikes with an entirely new MotoGP derived machine for WSB and the Suzuka 8 Hours, in the ‘speak like a pirate’ Fireblade RRR which will be ridden by Rea’s main rival from last year Bautista and Rea’s ex-team mate Leon Haslam.
Yamaha are stinging from am embarrassing year in racing last year and have responded much like the MotoGP squad by signing up the rising star of the sport Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, who brought the crescent of Islam to motorsport in a famous win against Rea last year at Magny Cours.
Toprak is total entertainment, even while dodging the spray of Prosecco on the WSB podium. He’s sadly probably too big and lanky to compete with the jockies in MotoGP but he is young enough to be a feature in WSB for years. He’s joined at Yamaha by an American. Garret Gerloff, the MotoAmerica supersport Champion, who was 3rd fastest in the wet in testing.
Aside from the resource and technological advantage that Rea’s team don’t have anymore. he has a grid full of riders who he has previous history with. Aside from Bautista and Haslam Rea also has the man World Champion he ejected from the Kawasaki team. BMW don’t have a full factory resources at WSB but possibly don’t need it. Ridden by another yet another ex-team mate of Rea, Tom Sykes (WSB champion of 2013) the German machine is a missile which has been steadily improving for years.
Rea’s own team mate, Alex Lowes is himself a threat and the green team may have recruited the promising Lowes as Rea’s successor. The dominant Kawaski remains as it was, the easiest to setup and ride of all the other machines, crucial in WSB’s wide, wild world of exciting motorcycle race venues.
Which brings us back to Ducati, who still consider themselves the leading lights of a competition they dominated in it’s boom years, but who have not won since 11 2019 was somewhat embarrassing for the Ducati Corse team, as they fielded what seemed obviously to be the fastest machine, but couldn’t find riders who would stay on it. This time their long term rider Chas Davies has remained free of injury long enough to get used to the exotic v-four. Also they have a new rider making his debut in WSB, but perhaps not for very long, Britain’s MotoGP hopeful of the early 2010’s, Scott Redding, fresh from winning the British Superbike series and perhaps on his way to a historic comeback in the sport.
