James Toseland: two title über-trier
A simply meteoric rise in British championship racing saw this schoolboy racer, born in Doncaster, Yorkshire, dominate the single make Honda CB500 Cup events all through the 1997 season and then win British Supersport races at the end of it.
At 17 James was picked to help spearhead the Castrol Honda push into the Supersport World Championship. On not the fastest bike out there he did two years with limited success, before heading back to the UK, only to suffer a serious crash and fight long and hard along the long road to recovery.
Those in the know understood that Toseland was the real deal and thus it made perfect sense for James to join the now iconic WSBK privateer team of GSE Racing, riding alongside eventual World Champion Neil Hodgson.
After a year of understanding his new world, he took his Ducati to his first podium at this level in 2002, then went on to take his first win in 2003. Not at home as so many others have, but in Germany, at Oschersleben.
Signed for the official Ducati team in 2004, he rode his Fila Ducati 999F04 vee-twin to the title in the hardest way possible, beating his French team-mate in the final race of the year - in France. His emotions were uncontrolled after he won, having overcome the odds that were stacked against him.
In a period of rule changes and turmoil in 2005 he was dropped by Ducati after a difficult year for rider and team, even though he was eventually fourth overall; a position most riders would have paid money to secured.
His comeback to true form with Ten Kate was not to be the first or last rejuvenation of Toseland's career. On a Winston Honda CBR1000RR four-cylinder bike it was to prove that even on a different layout from that which he knew best he could truly compete. Only returning WSBK legend Troy Bayliss held him at bay in 2006.
A change of sponsorship, but the stability of a second year with Ten Kate, saw Toseland win his second championship in 2007, again in circumstances that were far from easy in the end. In the deciding race of the year it looked again like Toseland was an outside bet but he recovered from some early dramas on the final day to keep his nerve and win by an impossibly narrow margin of two points.
Having won his second title a new challenge beckoned in MotoGP, but despite some strong rides in year one a second year proved to be even harder than the first, and James found himself having to rebuild his career yet again.
Yamaha retained Toseland's services in 2010, but in WSBK racing, not MotoGP. Completely fired up even before he had turned a wheel, Toseland's incredible bad luck with injuries continued as he hurt himself in practice fall before the season opener, and never got his year going in the way he wanted.
Let go again Toseland had to find a new ride, only for misfortune and pain to afflict him as he suffered yet another significant hand injury in testing at Aragon on his BMW Motorrad Italia WSBK four-cylinder. This time a small bone in his right hand proved to be the David that felled one of WSBK's racing's undisputable Goliaths.
The path to his double WSBK success was far from easy, but under the polite sheen of his nice guy image anyone who thinks Toseland is less than a solid block of Sheffield steel simply does not know the man at all. To those who say his career stats are not that impressive compared to some (16 wins in 201 WSBK races) Toseland need only point to his two championship titles in not quite nine years of WSB racing.
The whole WSBK paddock has every reason to salute the strong contribution of James Toseland - 2004 and 2007 Superbike World Champion. His career may have been cut short but he is well in the running to be the all-time inspiration to any up-and-coming-rider who wonders how far willpower and sheer determination can get you.
