The retirement of six-time World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea at the end of the 2025 season definitively concludes one of the most glorious chapters in the history of the production-based racing series. Tonight we will talk about it in our LIVE coverage.
Considered by many the "GOAT" of the category, the Northern Irishman bids farewell to the championship he has dominated unchallenged in the modern era, thanks to a titanic feat: six consecutive world titles, from 2015 to 2020. Successes that helped to put 'Johnny,' into the legend books, even if the subsequent move to Yamaha did not bring him much fortune.
His career, however, is marked by a big question mark, destined to inflame the debates of fans now that El Turco's debut is on the horizon: what would Rea have managed to conquer if he had decided to cross the threshold into MotoGP, instead of staying in the realm of Superbikes? A dilemma made all the more fascinating by the (relative) success of other champions who made that leap, writing pages, if not unforgettable, at any rate noteworthy in both disciplines.
Just think of Carl Fogarty, four world championships in SBK, but not exhilarating when he raced, one and off, in the 500 class where he never managed to get on the podium, his best result a 4th place riding a Cagiva at Donington in the GP won by Cadalora ahead of Rainey and Mackenzie. A feat that instead did succeed to Troy Bayliss, who was able to win the World Superbike title in 2001, 2006 and 2008, and to snatch a resounding victory in MotoGP in 2006 as a wildcard in Valencia with Ducati, and then to return triumphantly to SBK to win his last world championship. Or to Colin Edwards, a two-time World Superbike Champion, who in MotoGP as a Yamaha factory rider came close to a win at Assen, finished several times on the podium but despite ups and downs earned everyone's respect as the "Texas Tornado." And then how can we not mention Ben Spies, whose transition was acclaimed: World Superbike champion in 2009, he made his MotoGP debut in 2008 as a wild card for Suzuki, then returned in late 2009 to Valencia as a Yamaha rider, taking two podiums, a second and a third place, but only one win, in 2011, in the Netherlands.
In the end perhaps the best transition was made by Cal Crutchlow: after winning the Supersport world championship in 2009 he switched the following year to Superbike taking three wins, six pole positions and 10 total podiums, finishing fifth in the championship, and then moved to MotoGP where he took three wins, two in 2017 and one in 2018. Best championship result was 5th overall in 2013. A feat anticipated by Elbowz in 2011.
Although over the years Rea received offers from satellite teams such as Pramac and Forward, the jump to the premier class never materialized. A choice dictated in part by a sense of loyalty to Honda (the only manufacturer that offered him a real opportunity in MotoGP) in the first phase of his career, and in part by the difficulty of abandoning a winning project that led him to collect world titles. The result is that we have seen Rea compete on a prototype bike on only two occasions in his entire career.
The opportunity came in 2012, even before his dominance in Superbike began, but when his superb talent was already evident: he was already managing to regularly get the tricky Honda Fireblade to the podium. That success put him in the front row when Honda needed a replacement for none other than reigning world champion Casey Stoner in the factory team.
Stoner, injured in Germany, had tried to hang on for a few Grands Prix before succumbing to the need for surgery ahead of the San Marino GP. Thus, at Misano and Aragon, his place was taken by Rea.
After a test in Brno to get familiar with the RC213V, Rea did not disappoint at all in his two appearances: twice finishing with a 7th and an 8th that showed his potential, if only he had been given a full-time opportunity.
The switch from Honda to Kawasaki in 2015 led him to embark on an incredible winning streak, cementing his status as a Superbike legend forever. A successful choice, but one that came at the cost of what is perhaps the biggest "what if" in recent motorcycling history, a conundrum that not even the glorious exploits of Fogarty, Bayliss, Edwards, Spies, and Crutchlow will ever solve.
All the time while we are waiting, of course, for Toprak Razagatlioglu's debut with the Pramac-Yamaha team.