“Who’s the greatest” has been a question asked in every sport over the years. Whether it’s Muhammad Ali self proclaiming himself, or Tiger Woods being anointed by the masses, a general consensus quickly forms about a pecking order.
In football, it quickly comes down to Pele or Maradonna, Ronaldo or Messi, or another combination from a certain era. In tennis it comes down to dominance over a sustained period, with one era blending into the next of Rod Laver to Bjorn Borg to Pete Sampras to Roger Federer.
Motorcycle racing is similar in a lot of ways with riders typically earning their titles in spurts of sustained excellence.
Superbike racing is however a curious subset. With domestic series feeding into World championships, and some of the brightest WorldSBK stars being offered MotoGP seats after only a couple of years, at the same as riders step across to Superbike racing from Grand Prix for only a handful of seasons at the end of their careers, it’s a strange combination of fluidity and constant change.
When you ask a Superbike fan who the greatest is you certainly get more than your fair share of choice.
Jonathan Rea
Four-time WorldSBK champion, 68 wins and 131 podiums
Recency bias will place Rea at the top of the list of many fans, but a constant thorn in his side is the references to racing in an era of lesser competition and having the best bike. In terms of the machinery, the best riders almost always end up on the best bikes in any championship.
Rea’s form from his WorldSBK debut, and indeed his race-winning pedigree in British Superbike, show his natural ability and speed, especially during his six seasons with Honda, which culminated in finishing third in the standings in 2014. This shows that Rea extracted every inch of potential from the Fireblade.
When Rea moved to Kawasaki in 2015, many riders at the time commented that the writing was on the wall, and that with Rea already a top-class rider, that he would be unbeatable with the best machine underneath him.
The team that has surrounded him, led by Pere Riba, has enjoyed unprecedented success, but still there are questions from some quarters about Rea. His riding style and professionalism would thrive in any era of WorldSBK, and he’s had to beat some world-class rivals over the years in WorldSBK, with Marco Melandri, Chaz Davies and Tom Sykes all former world champions.
Carl Fogarty
Four-time WorldSBK champion, 59 wins and 109 podiums, Three-time Formula 1 World Champion, Senior TT winner
For many fans, Foggy is WorldSBK. The determination etched into his eyes as he focused on the grid is a defining memory for many of the golden era of WorldSBK. The Briton was an unbelievably determined rider that was able to wring every last drop of ability out of himself.
There were times when Foggy was a tour de force out on track and his wins, with two different manufacturers, came against the likes of world champions Troy Corser, Scott Russell, John Kocinski, Colin Edwards, with Nori Haga and Frankie Chili also playing key roles.
The competition on the grid was tighter during this era because in part there was only a handful of bikes that could win, not that dissimilar to the current era. For much of Foggy’s career, if you wanted to win you needed a Ducati, and the grid was filled with lots of the Italian machinery.
Of course to come out on top of this you needed to be the best Ducati rider, and Fogarty certainly was that throughout his career. His ability to dominate teammates and use mind games was legendary, and last year Aaron Slight said, “Foggy’s a nice guy now, but at the time he was awful. He came up me and apologized about it, and he’s good now, but that doesn’t make up for being a c*nt back then!”
In ten seconds, Slight perfectly captured Foggy’s approach to racing; never give an inch and push the boundaries as far as you can.
Troy Bayliss
Three-time WorldSBK champion, 52 wins and 94 podiums. British Superbike champion
Replacing a legend is never easy, and it fell on these Australian shoulders to handle the weight of expectation that came following Foggy’s retirement in 2000. Bayliss immediately stepped up to the mark, and no one has a better record than the former MotoGP race winner.
His 52 wins and 94 podiums give him a better success rate on both counts than Rea. The fact that he did it in different eras is unique. His first title came in 2001 with the Ducati 996, in a time prior to electronic aids on the machine, his last crown in 2008 came with those aids turned up to the max.
Two completely different bikes with completely different riding styles, but still Bayliss prevailed.
His rookie campaign saw him miss the opening four rounds of the year, but he was still able to win in only his third meeting of the year, his 11th WorldSBK start including wildcards, and he added another win before the end of the year to finish sixth in the standings. The following year he claimed his first title from Colin Edwards.
In 2002 the most thrilling culmination of a WorldSBK season took place with Edwards gaining revenge at the last round of the year at Imola. That race is arguably the most famous race of WorldSBK history, and when it finished, both riders rode off into the MotoGP sunset.
Bayliss however was destined to return to the WorldSBK paddock, and in 2006 he came back, won the title and capped his year off with a maiden MotoGP victory at Valencia. The wildcard was a reward for his world title, and he certainly used it to show the paddock exactly how good he was.
A third title followed in 2008, with ten wins in his final season. A tw- race return in 2015 saw him finish inside the top ten at Buriram at 45 years of age.
Colin Edwards
Two-time WorldSBK champion, 31 wins, 75 podiums
The Texas Tornado became a household name in WorldSBK with wins for Yamaha before switching to Honda and enjoying sustained success, four consecutive years as champion or vice-champion, before switching to MotoGP.
Edwards is forever remembered for Imola 2002, but what’s forgotten is how dogged his campaign was. After the opening race at Laguna Seca, the home hero had fallen 58 points adrift of Bayliss, but nine wins in a row to close out the year proved just enough to claim the title by nine points.
His win at Imola Race 1, by just half a second, gave him some breathing space going into the final round, but that last race of his WorldSBK career was a no holds barred fight for the win.
Edwards may not have translated his WorldSBK form to the MotoGP field, but as an AMA Superbike race winner and Suzuka 8-Hour winner, his pedigree on a Superbike beyond question.
The Texan was a better qualifier than he was given credit for, raced in a hugely competitive era of WorldSBK where he went up against Fogarty, Corser, Bayliss, Haga and Slight. Underestimate Edwards at your peril.
Doug Polen
Two-time WorldSBK champion, 27 wins, 40 podiums. AMA Superbike champion and Endurance World Champion
Doug Polen holds the record for most wins in a season with 17, two WorldSBK titles and an Endurance crown. Polen has a small sample size, because he only raced 80 times, but his dominance was such that he left an undeniable mark on the championship as an early 90’s champion.
Unfortunately for the American, his success came just as WorldSBK was establishing itself, and before the likes of Foggy were at their pomp. As a result, Polen is one of the most underestimated riders that you will find in the discussion for legendary Superbike status.
Troy Corser
Two-time WorldSBK champion, 33 wins, 130 podiums. Australian Superbike champion and a winner on three different manufacturers in WorldSBK
Corser’s career spanned three decades, and with it he rode against almost all of the greats of WorldSBK history. He also beat all of them at one point or another. Corser, the Superpole record holder when he retired, was a remarkable qualifier, with 99 front row starts, and he was able convert those front row starts into all but five of his victories.
If he got to the front, he was a tough rider to beat, and he was able to win on almost any machine. Victories for Ducati, Aprilia, and Suzuki proved this point, but being able to finish on the rostrum on the Foggy-Petronas, Yamaha, and BMW also showed that his speed wasn’t blunted by any change of machinery.
It’s easy to overlook Corser’s career because of his longevity of 20 seasons and “only” winning two titles, but seven times through his career he was able to finish in the top three of the standings.
Max Biaggi
Two-time WorldSBK champion, 21 wins, 71 podiums
Was there ever a more heralded WorldSBK rookie than Biaggi? If there was it’s hard to see how any rookie could have surpassed the expectation and pressure that was placed on his shoulders. Biaggi’s 2007 rookie season started in Qatar with a victory from the front row of the grid. It was a dream start for the Suzuki rider after sitting out the 2006 season.
It seemed inevitable that Biaggi would right the wrong of his 500GP rookie campaign, and become a WorldSBK champion at the first attempt. That script was quickly ripped apart by James Toseland with the Englishman winning Race 2 in the desert, and quickly asserting himself as the title favorite with eight wins.
Biaggi had to wait until 2010 and a switch to Aprilia,, to claim the crown. With his name back in lights, Biaggi finished third in the standings the next year before regaining the crown. Biaggi became the first rider since John Kocinski to win a Grand Prix title and a WorldSBK crown.
Raymond Roche
One-time WorldSBK champion, 23 wins, 57 podiums. 250GP podium finisher and Endurance World Champion
A one- time SBK champion as the greatest is a stretch, but Roche was so consistent over the course of his four WorldSBK campaigns. With 23 wins and 57 podiums in 97 starts, he was victorious in the 1991 title race and finished inside the top three of the standings in each of his full campaigns. As a multiple a 500GP podium finisher, he was a measuring stick with which to judge the other riders in the fledgling WorldSBK championship.
Noriyuki Haga
43 WorldSBK wins, 116 podiums
Nitro Nori was the Superbike answer to Norick Abe in the mid nineties. He was swashbuckling and exciting. A rider that always commanded your attention and that of his rivals. His career saw him win on 750cc and 1000cc Yamahas and also on Ducati v-twins. His style translated from one to the other successful, but ultimately he would fall short of his quest for a title.
As a three time runner-up, and a rider who finished third in the standings three times, his longevity and speed saw him win races in ten different seasons, and failed to register a victory in only two seasons. Those winless campaigns are a blot on his copybook, but as a regular podium finisher in both he was still a front runner.
Haga’s ability to get to the front of the field saw him retire as the all-time lap leader. That record was only recently broken by Rea.
Ben Spies
One-time WorldSBK champion, 14 wins, 17 podiums. Three-time AMA Superbike champion
The 2009 World Champion came to WorldSBK as the hottest property in Superbike racing. As a three-time defending American champion, where he defeated Mat Mladin, Spies jumped onto the factory Yamaha and was immediately the fastest man in the WorldSBK paddock.
Claiming a remarkable 11 Superpole victories in 14 rounds, it was his qualifying performances that lay the foundation of his title charge.
Qualifying off the front row only once throughout his WorldSBK career, the Texan was able to claim the crown from Nori Haga. Throughout the season Spies was fast, but four retirements, three while leading the race, and a non-score on his debut kept the championship close.
His domestic career should also not be discounted too. Going toe to toe with Mladin in one of the most heated rivalries in AMA history, it was a yo-yo battle for supremacy. Mladin was a six-time champion when Spies put the skids on his American dominance, and from that point onwards Spies claimed a hatrick of titles.
The pair had four years of bar-to-bar visceral hatred on track. It was everything that Superbike racing was designed to be, with any mistake punished by your rival.
Following his title winning campaign Spies left for MotoGP and was able to win a premier-class Grand Prix.
So Who Is the Best?
To be the best you have to beat the best. To do that you need longevity, consistency, and to be in an era of unparalleled competition. That competition comes from rival riders and bikes that are close to one another.
Rea’s success has been incredible and unique, but with Kawasaki enjoying a machinery advantage prior to Rea’s arrival, as shown by Tom Sykes success, and coming at a time when Ducati was at a low ebb, it’s hard to judge how Rea would fare in earlier eras.
He has ridden unbelievably well, possibly too well and as a result his success has been expected rather than appreciated.
Rea’s talent is beyond question, as shown by his performances on the Honda, and his speed, professionalism, determination and mental strength are of the highest level.
His career isn’t finished and the book on his career isn’t written yet. He’ll finish his career as the statistical leader in every conceivable category. The sheer weight of numbers at this time are staggering, and they’ll only continue to grow as he continues to win but is he the greatest ever?
Carl Fogarty’s success and personality made Superbike racing big business in the 90’s. He dominated the headlines and was front and back page news at times in the UK.
You couldn’t move at Brands Hatch during Foggy Mania, and his ability to win Formula 1 world titles, a World Endurace title, and be a race winner at the TT shows that he was a unique talent and the last of the true world class, all round racers.
Foggy was brash and brave, and if his career hadn’t been cut short by injury he might well have set records that Rea would still be chasing. Foggy was a Superbike Superstar and certainly is on the Mount Rushmore of legends.
While injury cut short Foggy’s career in his prime, even if Rea called time on his career he would hold the records and statically be the greatest ever, but to answer a question about who is the greatest is subjective. As of today Troy Bayliss is my choice.
That’s not a knock on Rea at all. This era of WorldSBK is filled with talented riders and front to back of the grid there are at least a dozen riders who would be able to mix it with the best ever and wouldn’t look out of place on any grid in racing.
This field is deep, professional and fast, but Bayliss replaced a legend, has a statistical edge on Rea in terms of his conversion rates for wins and podiums, and he was a better qualifier than Rea.
The Australian’s career also spanned an era of Superbikes that Rea can’t match. Riding different bikes that required different styles in longer races, Bayliss found a way to get it done consistently.
It’s unfortunate for Rea because the prospect of him going up against Bayliss, Foggy, and the rest of WorldSBK’s legends would be mouthwatering. You’d certainly not bet against Rea coming out on top, but looking back at their careers to this point Bayliss holds a very slender edge.
Photos: © 2018 Steve English – All Rights Reserved
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