Shattered pre-season to second straight crown for the departing Toprak
Toprak Razgatlioglu winning the WSBK championship for BMW in 2024 was akin to a miracle. Winning it for a second time, after so many unforeseen issues interfering with the 2025 pre-season preparation plan, was at least as much of an achievement. For man and manufacturer both.
It was as troubled a run-up to a title defence for the official ROKiT Motorrad BMW team as almost any in history, for the simple reason that they could not run their previous Superconcession chassis package. The final ruling on that (predictable enough to some others) came very late in the pre-season development cycle, so there was little time to prepare for the first races.
Then there was the small problem of Toprak having had his right index finger knuckle rebuilt with three screws after an enduro crash. For a rider who brakes like he does, and like no one else does, that was a particularly savage additional blow.
It’s a testament to all involved that BMW took its suddenly de-evolved M 1000 RR and embarked on a series of tech workarounds that allowed Toprak to compete on a more-or-less level footing with the otherwise class-leading Ducati V4R through the season.
It’s also a testament to Nicolo Bulega that he not only hung in there in the championship fight to the surprisingly bitter end, but won almost every race he realistically could.
Bulega’s potentially championship-winning campaign was largely blunted by two technical problems at Assen, being knocked off at Misano and then having a tyre choice drama at Balaton.
Razgatlioglu also had some in-season outside influences harm his title fight, of course, most publicly when he was knocked off by Bulega in the penultimate race of the year, at Jerez. One bit of runoff grit ingested into the engine of the BMW after that crash? One more ‘incident’ that was not Toprak’s fault in the very last race of 2025? Any of those and Bulega would then have been champion, not Toprak.
Other than that Superpole Race pass, adjudged by the authorities as ‘irresponsible riding’, in many ways Bulega would have been just as deserving as Razgatlioglu.
In general, throughout the entire campaign there were obvious Toprak/BMW or Nicolo/Ducati tracks.
Another stand-out of 2025, and what probably won Toprak the championship, was that remarkable record-equalling 13-in-a-row winning streak from Misano to Race One at Motorland.
On the subject of unlucky numbers for Bulega, that 13-point eventual margin of championship victory was a fair reflection of how close it really was. The points advantage of 266 from Bulega in second to his Aruba.it Racing Ducati teammate Alvaro Bautista in third was also a fair judgement of just how far the two biggest riding talents of 2025 were from the rest. That’s even more of a reminder of what 2025 was really all about – a fantastic two-rider/two manufacturer fight from first to last.
On balance, it’s also important to understand that each of those two brands suffered three drops in maximum fuel flow levels through the year. And yet their leading riders were still clearly untouchable by those who got a fuel boost or the other riders on the same brand of machinery who also lost some fuel.
Fourth overall was the only other rider to win a race, Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha). He took his first ever WorldSBK victory at Assen, albeit in a race where Razgatlioglu finished eighth and Bulega had one of those infamous DNFs. Fifth overall was Danilo Petrucci, who missed the last two rounds after suffering a training injury.
Sixth overall came the Kawasaki-engined Bimota of Alex Lowes. Four podiums for Alex and a front row start for teammate Axel Bassani seemed like an over-performance in year one, especially with eight super-strong Ducatis around. Lowes was a clear 66 points ahead of the best Honda, in sixth, which was under the control of the not-quite-podium-capable-this-year Xavi Vierge.
Eighth in the final points was the other Lowes boy, Sam, in his much-improved privateer Marc VDS squad Ducati set-up. Too many no-scores and a late season injury did for his hopes of finishing as top Independent Rider no good at all. Petrucci took that title-within-a-title.
The enigma’s enigma, Andrea Iannone, placed ninth overall, with his podium finishes neatly bracketing the season, at Phillip Island and the finale in Jerez.
There were so many combos and rider careers coming to a close in 2025 it will be remembered by the hardcore fans as the end not just of a season, but an era.
It may have been heavily mano-a-mano on the very top of the podiums in 2025, but 2025 was a brilliant spectacle where overtaking was the norm, not the exception.
WORLD SUPERSPORT
The all-new Yamaha R9 triple turned early doubt into domination
The bike that ended up being the most dominant of the season – the all-new Yamaha R9 triple – had a pretty rough winter test reputation. It then went on to not-quite dominate the season, but be its standout metallic star. It won so much that the infamous balancing rule algorithm reduced its peak revs by 800 near the end. That did, in fairness, bring some of the field closer to the big two.
Those two best riders in the championship also came from the two most successful recent Yamaha teams in WSSP, with Stefano Manzi (Pata Ten Kate) and Can Oncu (BLU CRU Evan Bros) running free and clear with 11 and six race wins respectively. The good news is that in the races the Yamahammers had lots of case-hardened tough competition again, with a new Kawasaki ZX-6R 636 and (for Magny-Cours) a new QJ Motor SRK 800 RS arriving inside a field of seven competing manufacturers.
MV Agusta, Ducati and Triumph won at least one race. The on-track action was, invariably, stunning.
Valentin Debise (Renzi Corse Ducati) took his first career WSSP race win, then doubled up at the next round. Tom Booth-Amos (PTR Triumph Factory Racing) made his career jump to race winner, and at the awesome Phillip Island circuit no less.
‘TBA’ was nearly third in the championship fight. On the final day, however, Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing Verdnatura) made sure he would be the first non-Yamaha rider in the table.
At the end of the year Manzi beat Oncu by a whopping 94 points, while Oncu was 107 points ahead of season rookie and finally two-time race winner Masia.
A classic WSSP season, truly, with the top two so far ahead because of their skillsets and experience as much as the repeatable top pace of the potent new Yamaha.
Supersport 300
This farewell season produced a wild and wonderful championship
The WSSP300 championship went through its final iteration and it was easily one of the best. Entering the final round, three riders realistically could have won the title.
The champion turned out to be 17-year-old Basque rider Benat Fernandez, competing for the Irish-run, Australian-supported #109 Retro Traffic Management Kove team. They won on a relatively trick Chinese machine, the 321-RR S.
There was plenty of competition in 2025, as ever, with none other than Carter Thompson ending up second overall and another Kawasaki rider, David Salvador, third.
Seven different riders won races, with every manufacturer – Kove, Kawasaki, KTM and Yamaha – winning multiples.
Over its nine-year life, WSSP300 has been both an oversubscribed success and not quite the Superbike rider production line that the previous Stock600 championship was.
The all-new FIM Sportbike Championship will replace it in 2026, but it will be going some to replicate the close finishes and endless lap-by-lap running order re-shuffles that characterised the 300s.
WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Maria makes it
In the second year of the unique women-only WWCR championship, the fight for the title was once again a right set-to involving two riders from Spain. This time around the highly experienced Maria Herrera secured the title, having missed out narrowly last year, but not in the clear way that many expected.
Beatriz Neila and Herrera traded the bulk of the race wins (Herrera 6, Neila 4, with Roberta Ponziani and final-round wildcard Paola Ramos scoring one apiece).
The podiums were another matter. All of the top six, plus Ramos of course, secured podium spots, with this year’s star arrival being the UK’s Chloe Jones. She ended up third overall and did everything except score her first win. She did, however, take Superpole at Magny-Cours. Ponziani added a second place to her Cremoa win, but Jones was a podium picker to the tune of six in all.
Sara Sanchez was on course for a strong final placing but went fifth overall after a problematic Magny-Cours round in France.
Aussie Tayla Relph finished 10th overall with strong results at the end of the season despite a small budget.
Kiwi Avalon Lewis finished eighth, again with a race budget a fraction of the European frontrunners.
STANDALONE 2025 AWARDS
“We’re Off, Mate!” Of The Year
Several riders in 2025 will not be WSBK riders in 2026, almost all unwillingly so. Ryan Vickers will no longer be a Motocorsa Ducati rider after his 2025 debut, despite having a solid contract in place. Michael Ruben Rinaldi, a multiple WSBK race winner, retires after a couple of very hard WSBK/WSSP years, and offers to continue. Michael Van der Mark is off to a testing role for BMW, having lost his racing berth. At the time of press, Andrea Iannone has no realistic offer of a ride. Bautista is not retiring but his factory carer with Ducati is over, as he moves over and slightly down to the Barni Spark team.
There are two really big names who won’t be on the regular 2026 grid. The GOAT Jonathan Rea is retiring, while Toprak is heading off to MotoGP and a very uncertain future. His talent is astounding, unique and versatile.
Like A ‘Loser’s’ Reach… Of All-Time?
If we’re looking at a candidate for the strongest-ever championship fighter to not quite win the title itself, Nicolo Bulega seems the best candidate. If we took Toprak out of the 2025 season, Bulega would have won every race bar one – if you remove the weird stuff beyond his control. He actually won 14 races, had 18 second places and he didn’t even finish in third place once. Four no-scores came at the hands of double Assen tech gremlins, an errant rider in Misano and a tyre-inspired 13th in the Balaton sprint race – no points for 13th in those races, of course. Despite all this, Bulega still scored over 600 points, which is usually a champion’s score and then some. We will get to see how he does without Toprak in 2026, on the new model of WSBK-eligible Ducati V4-R.
“Finally!” Award Of The Year
Two candidates here… Andrea Locatelli managed to take that elusive first WSBK win after 154 race starts. Okay, the big two were missing from the podium but he was overdue a first win, especially as he’s competing on a slightly leg-weary Yamaha against some more modern WSBK tech legends. Everybody without skin in the game, and even some with plenty in it, seemed happy for him. The other strong candidate was Valentin Debise (Renzi Corse Ducati), who took his first WSSP win after 88 races, at Motorland. Almost the entire pack joined him on the infield for impromptu backslapping and handshaking.
Team America on the attack
After almost winning the MotoAmerica championship, the Attack Performance Yamaha team and Bobby Fong came over to Portugal and Spain for the final two WSBK rounds. They were warmly welcomed and although not at the sharp end in the results, Richard Stanboli and his crew’s beautifully presented and cleverly-prepped R1 was a sight for old sore eyes that were once accustomed to seeing wildcard riders of quality at almost every single round of every single season. Recent IDM Champion Lukas Tulovic (Team Triple MV Ducati Frankfurt) was another very welcome final round wildcard.
Year Campaigner
Alvaro Bautista was again the worst affected of the few riders who had to adjust their bike set-up to an extra weight penalty, under the existing rules from last year. He was so irked by it, even more than in 2024, that he got a late-season petition going to present to the authorities to try and get the weight penalty rescinded before 2026.
Swap Shop Of The Season
There were a few swaps and revolving doors but the biggest name to leave mid-season was Scott Redding, from his MG Bonovo Ducati squad. Tarran Mackenzie, another ex-BSB champ like Redding, inherited the bike and wrestled it up to a series of top-10s. Redding went back to the UK to win BSB races.
Where Did That Come From?
Jeremy Alcoba had a decent start in WSSP on the lone 636cc Kawasaki but then some really unhappy ones that looked like he may be ousted before the end of the year, until… Starting from 25th at Estoril, he rode to third place in Race 2. It was mind-blowing stuff. Then he came so close – only 0.051s – to winning the first race at the Jerez weekend finale.
our ’Strayans
Remy Gardner
Remy secured a podium at Assen and just missed out on a top 10 championship finish. A crash at Balaton, in that infamous first corner clattering for multiple riders, robbed him of points and interrupted his rhythm. In general, the Yamaha was a little off the pace in 2025, as it had been in 2024, but he was the second-best R1 rider over the whole season.
Oli Bayliss
Changing manufacturers in 2025 was a sensible move for Oli, who ended up in an official berth inside the PTR Triumph Factory Racing squad in 2025. He had his single best race result since he joined WSSP in 2022, with a fourth place at Balaton Park. He finished 14th overall and remains with his team for next year.
Carter Thompson
Three race wins and three other podiums for Carter on his MTM Kawasaki Ninja 400 saw him get to within 18 points of the championship win. A no-score at Motorland probably did for him in the end – but he had been just three points behind the eventual champion with just one single race to go. He will ride for the Yamaha BR Corse team in the new WorldSportbike Championship in 2026.
Luke Power
Luke decided to leave his second season ride with MotoZoo Racing Team a bit early after a season of incidents, no-scores and occasional decent results on his MV Agusta 800. He took his best results of 12th and 11th at Phillip Island in February, but things did not improve from there.
Tayla Relph
A second battling season for Tayla, but no podium this time around. The WWCR rider lived up to her Full Throttle Racing team’s name. She was unlucky to be black flagged and excluded from the second race at Magny-Cours, a consequence of making a jumpstart after her bike almost toppled over. Without that she would surely have been a bit further up the rankings than tenth.
