We have waited and waited for 37 long years. There have been false dawns, flashes of hope from some exceptionally talented individuals, but it never happened. The page is still empty. Can Toprak Razgatlioglu start writing that new chapter in the History of Motorcycle Racing?
As always, the facts do not tell the complete story. That is a good thing because these stark facts portray a sorry tale.
There have been 19 World Champions in the 37-year history of the World Superbike Championship. Only two of those World Champions have never competed in a MotoGP Grand Prix. Reigning World Champion and Championship leader this year Toprak Razgatlioglu, and 2013 Champion Tom Sykes. Next season Razgatlioglu leaves the fold to start his journey in MotoGP on the Prima Pramac Yamaha. It’s a journey that has never been completed by his predecessors. Plenty have set out but not returned home with the spoils. Injuries and pure bad luck have hampered others. Some declined to even start the journey. The individuals making the reverse trip have found a much smoother road.
Incredibly, only two World Champions switching to MotoGP won a Grand Prix. American Ben Spies would have surely won more and pushed hard for the title, but injuries forced his retirement. The 2009 World Champion made 55 MotoGP starts with that single MotoGP win coming two year later in Assen. The Yamaha rider finished fifth in the MotoGP World Championship the same year. Five years earlier World Superbike Champion, Australian Troy Bayliss, won the final grand prix of the 2006 season at Valencia in very different circumstances. The Ducati rider was drafted in to replace the injured Sete Gibernau. He was no stranger to MotoGP and had made 43 Grand Prix appearances for Ducati and Honda after winning the 2001 World Superbike title. Bayliss returned to World Superbikes and won the title in 2006. It was an historic win in Valencia. While the world focussed on the Hayden/Rossi fight for the Championship, Bayliss led Loris Capirossi over the line for the first ever Ducati one/two in the premier class.
Great expectation and real anticipation surrounded Spies and Bayliss on their arrival in the MotoGP paddock, and there have been others that created a similar vibe. The likes of Colin Edwards, James Toseland, Neil Hodgson, and Scott Russell, looked on course to repeat their success.
For Russell, it was never going to be easy. He came into the factory Suzuki team halfway through the 1995 season to replace the former MotoGP World Champion and legend Kevin Schwanz, who was finally forced to retire with a wrist injury. Russell arrived with a formidable record. The American was a World Superbike, AMA Champion and a winner of the prestigious Suzuka 8-hour race. It was never going to be easy switching from four-stroke to the 500cc two-strokes and replacing a legend. He rode in 19 Grands Prix and grabbed two podiums for Suzuki.
I think the biggest anticipation surrounded Colin Edwards and James Toseland, when they made the switch after so much success. The exuberant and likable Texan Edwards was never slow to voice his opinions. He was soon urging Hodgson, who’d replaced him as World Champion in 2003, to join him. Edwards had a fabulous career in MotoGP both on and off the track. The American rode in 196 Grands Prix and deserved to win at least one. In 2006 he was leading the Dutch TT in Assen going into final part of the finishing chicane. To the dismay of 99% of the MotoGP paddock he crashed with the chequered flag in sight. His big chance had gone and never returned. Edwards finished on the podium 12 times which included five second places. If anybody deserved to join Bayliss and Spies as a Grand Prix winner, it was the Texan.
With so little British success in MotoGP, the arrival of piano playing Toseland was seen as the sunrise on a new era. The double World Champion made an encouraging start by qualifying on the front row at the opening grand prix of the 2008 MotoGP season in Qatar. Sadly, that promise never materialised because an injured wrist causing much pain and lack of grip. The British rider made just 35 Grand Prix appearances with nine sixth places his best results.
Hodgson had taken Edwards’ advice ‘to get his a… off the sofa and join him in MotoGP. He already had experience in both 125 and 500cc GP racing. Hodgson switched to World Superbikes after 15 MotoGP races on a private Yamaha. He won the World Superbike Championship in 2003 and switched back to MotoGP a year later. It was tough going on an uncompetitive Ducati, with his best result an eighth place in Japan.
So, what about the World Champions who decided to stay put as the Kings of their chosen Castle. Carl Fogarty received Barry Sheene type acclaim when he won the World Superbike Championship in 1994, ’95, ‘98, ‘99. The World Superbike Championship with Fogarty at the helm was matching and, in some countries, including Great Britain attracting more interest than grand prix racing. Fogarty had shown in six Grands Prix appearances, including a fourth place in Britain, that he had the ability to run with the likes of five times MotoGP Champion Mick Doohan, but it never happened. He was only prepared to switch to a top team and then injury brought his career to a premature end.
Ulsterman Jonathan Rea won the World Superbike Championship an unrivalled six times in a row for Kawasaki between 2015-2020. Surely, he was the rider to take on the likes of Rossi and Marquez on the MotoGP stage. On his two Grands Prix appearances, replacing the injured Casey Stoner in the Repsol Honda team at Aragon and Misano in 2012, he had already impressed with seventh and eighth places respectively. It was Fogarty all over again. The right offer to lure them away from a phenomenally successful and lucrative lifestyle never materialised. Who can blame either of them for staying put and we were left wondering what might have been. Fogarty versus Doohan and Rea versus Rossi and Marquez – we can only dream!
Those making the reverse journey found the going much smoother. Grand Prix Champions Max Biaggi and Alvaro Bautista added to their World Championship trophy cabinets. Italian Biaggi won 13 Premier class races after winning four successive 250 cc titles. His switch to World Superbikes brought him two more world titles in 2010 and 2012. Spaniard Bautista also captured two World Superbike titles in 2022/23. He’d already won the 2006 125 cc title and ridden 159 MotoGP races, including three podiums. American John Kocinski won four MotoGP races in 71 starts before being crowned World Superbike Champion in 1997.
Spaniard Carlos Checa won two MotoGP races in 194 premier class starts, before being crowned World Superbike Champion in 2011. The reversal of Colin Edward’s dilemma happened to Frenchman Raymond Roche who grabbed nine podiums in 80 MotoGP starts. His fortune changed when he switched to win the 1990 World Superbike title.
So can Razgatlioglu unlock the magic formula? Edwards always said he left it too late to make the switch, and a glance at Cal Crutchlow’s fantastic career is surely an indication of hope. The British rider won the World Supersport Championship in 2009 and then completed just one season in World Superbike. He won two races and was favourite to fight for the title in 2011, but he knew he had to take his MotoGP chance when it came. The result, a fantastic MotoGP career and three MotoGP wins. More than any World Superbike Champion.
It was great timing by Crutchlow and Razgatlioglu appears to have timed his big switch perfectly. In the opposite way to Crutchlow, the 28-year-old Turkish rider bided his time until the right offer came along. Two world titles and a possibly third under his belt, the offer of a works Yamaha MotoGP machine came at the perfect time. Yamaha are on their way back and with the likelihood of the V-4 M1 machine. He has a season to adjust next year while Yamaha continue their development. A year later the pendulum swings Razgatlioglu way. MotoGP switches from Michelin to Pirelli tyres. All his Superbike success came on the Italian rubber.
Can the Turkish Wizz-kid succeed where those other great World Champions failed?
Razgatlioglu versus Marquez. What a prospect. It is time that 37-year curse is extinguished for good.