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For newer or younger racing fans, it may seem hard to believe that there was a time when the Superbike World Championship rivaled grand prix motorcycle racing (well before it was called MotoGP) in popularity. But there were good reasons for that.
As sophisticated as Superbikes were then and have become now, they still have ties to the motorcycles we ride — or at least see — on the street, while the high-strung 500 cc two-stroke prototype racers had little relevance to everyday riders as the race bikes burrowed ever deeper into technology nobody else used. The Superbikes gave fans not just a chance to cheer for their favorite riders and brands, but even their preferred engine type. Were you a fan of the inline fours or the V-twins?
World Superbike had polarizing personalities, like Carl Fogarty, who for a long time was the winningest rider in Superbike history. It had spectacular battles, such as the 2002 championship fight — one of the best ever, in my opinion — when Honda's Colin Edwards came back from 58 points behind to beat Ducati's Troy Bayliss with the matter decided in an amazing final duel at the last race in Imola.
The real shift came when grand prix racing moved to four-strokes and became MotoGP, drawing renewed interest from both fans and the best riders in the world. (Bayliss and Edwards were among the riders who switched to MotoGP.) But in recent years, World Superbike has taken on second-class status not just because of events, but by design. Organizer Dorna Sports specifically focused all attention on MotoGP. In 2024, when Liberty Media acquired Dorna, the news release didn't even mention World Superbike. Then, this week, Dorna announced that it had officially changed its name to MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group. Can it be made any clearer that the powers that be don't consider WorldSBK worth mentioning?
So while a quarter century ago motorcycle pundits debated whether Superbikes would supplant grand prix prototypes in popularity, today that's a settled question and the answer is "no." WSBK has been reduced to a nearly all-Europe series with 12 rounds while MotoGP circles the globe with 22 rounds planned this year.
That's not to say World Superbike doesn't have its appeal, however. One of the fun things is the fact that it traditionally kick starts the road racing season, pulling us out of the winter racing drought with its one round outside of Europe, the Australian round at the spectacular Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. This weekend.
Who's riding what
This year, far more than most, a single rider must be considered the favorite to win the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship and it's largely because of the dynamics described above. Aruba.it Racing Ducati's Nicolò Bulega and ROKiT BMW Motorrad's Toprak Razgatlıoğlu thoroughly dominated the 2025 season, with Razgatlıoğlu taking his second consecutive championship and third in the last five years. Those two riders won 35 of the 36 races and nearly doubled the points haul of third-place finisher Álvaro Bautista. Now, with Razgatlıoğlu off to try his luck in MotoGP, it's hard to find a reason to bet against Bulega.
The Ducati rider has another advantage, beyond his proven speed and track record. In a field where many riders are on new teams and different motorcycles for 2026, Bulega is back on his familiar and proven Ducati V4 R.
Bautista will still be on a Ducati, but with the Barni Spark Racing Team instead of the Aruba.it Racing Ducati team. The fifth-place rider in 2025, Danilo Petrucci, whose resume includes MotoGP, MotoAmerica, and even the Dakar Rally, switches from riding a Ducati for the Barni Spark team to take Razgatlıoğlu's former ride with the factory ROKiT BMW team on an M 1000 RR. Iker Lecuona switches from a Honda to join Bulega at the factory Ducati team and his former Honda teammate, Xavi Vierge, moves to the Pata Maxus Yamaha team.
Just as rising World Superbike riders look to jump to MotoGP, some MotoGP riders on second-tier teams move to World Superbike to be more competitive or extend their careers. That worked spectacularly well for Bautista, who won two WSBK championships after moving over from MotoGP, and this year, Miguel Oliveira is following the same path. He will be Petrucci's new teammate on the factory BMW team.
The only U.S. rider in the field, Garrett Gerloff, returns for his second year with the factory Kawasaki WorldSBK Team in a one-rider Superbike entry. Kawasaki has split its efforts between Gerloff on the Ninja ZX-10RR and the two-rider Bimota by Kawasaki team racing Kawasaki-powered Bimota KB998 Riminis. In his six years in WorldSBK, the former MotoAmerica Superbike race winner and Supersport champion has recorded multiple podium finishes and one pole position, but has yet to claim his first WorldSBK race win.
Who's fast so far
The usual test at Phillip Island during the week leading up to the opening races was even more important than usual this year as many of the preseason test sessions were affected by rain. And with so many riders on new-to-them motorcycles, setup time was limited and crucial.
Bulega, who won all three races at Phillip Island last year, cemented his status as the favorite by leading all four sessions of the two-day test. A simple list of fastest laps doesn't fully tell the story of Bulega's strength, however. With a fastest lap of 1:28.630 in the fourth and final session, he was the only rider to dip below 1:29. But he also recorded three other laps in the 1:28 range and was able to reel off consistent strings of laps in the 1:29 range. Bulega's ninth-best lap would still have put him first on the time sheets.
Three more Ducati V4 Rs finished behind Bulega in the combined results of the four sessions, ridden by Sam Lowes, Lorenzo Baldassarri, and Yari Montella. They were followed by the two Bimota by Kawasaki riders, Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes. Oliveira finished seventh as he got acquainted with a Superbike on the BMW. Gerloff finished 10th in the standings, 1.182 seconds off the best time set by Bulega.
Bulega has been a sensation since he moved up to Superbike, finishing second to Razgatlıoğlu as a rookie in 2024 and again last year. This year, anything less than a championship will be a disappointment.
Watching World Superbike in the United States has become more difficult as the series has been nudged toward second-class status and there is no longer a U.S. round. The WorldSBK VideoPass costs €69.90 for the full season and races can also be seen in the United States on the Racer+ network, which shows a variety of motorsports and has various subscription offers. Highlights videos and, sometimes, complete races, are posted on the WorldSBK YouTube channel after the weekend of racing is over.
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