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Four rounds to go and there is a lot to be decided in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. The World Championship is hanging in the balance but it’s advantage Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team). The Turkish star is counting down to his final WorldSBK race. Twelve to go. Twelve opportunities to pad his stats before moving to MotoGP as a potential triple World Champion.

12 RACES LEFT: the last chance to see Rea as a full-time rider

There are also twelve opportunities to see Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha) in action before he retires. His recent announcement wasn’t unexpected given his form on the Yamaha. However, it was another changing of the guard for WorldSBK. The six-time World Champion is the greatest WorldSBK rider we’ve seen. At his best he was a ferocious animal that refused to lose. Since he first jumped on to a Superbike, as an 18-year-old in the British championship, he has astounded onlookers.

RIVALRIES APLENTY: taking on Sykes and Davies among others…

The last couple of seasons have been tough but overall, it has been an incredible journey for Rea. The Northern Irishman broke almost every record possible during his career and his rivalries stretched across different eras. The biggest rivalries associated with Rea are Tom Sykes, his long-time Kawasaki teammate, and Chaz Davies.

Sykes was the man in green when Rea joined him in 2015. Immediately Rea asserted himself as the team leader. What had been Sykes' team had suddenly become Team 65. Team building was always a strength of Rea. He immediately found a perfect partner in crime with Pere Riba. The duo would go on to dominate the next six years in WorldSBK and Sykes' time as the leading man was finished. Rea never felt threatened by his teammate.

Chaz Davies became Rea’s biggest rival on track. For five years the Welshman was the foil to Rea but ultimately his title challenge would come down to one or two errors a year. A crash here or there would be punished by the relentless Rea. The consistency and confidence that Rea displayed was impressive, but it was the steal that he displayed in 2019 that really showed his strength.

THE 2019 COMEBACK: overturning a huge deficit to Bautista

That year Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) joined WorldSBK and dominated the start of the campaign. Win after win after win saw him open the campaign with eleven victories on the bounce. Before the fifth round, at Imola, I spoke to Rea, and he said, “It’s now or never. If I’m going to win this title I need to win this weekend.” He won Race 1 and the Superpole Race before Race 2 was cancelled due to wet conditions.

After Imola, Rea was 58 points down on his rival. Seven races later he was ahead. The sheer sense of self belief turning the impossible into the inevitable. It was one of the greatest turnarounds ever seen in motorcycle racing. His fifth title was his best.

PART OF THE GOLDEN ERA: fighting the emergence of Razgatlioglu and Redding

From that point onwards the Kawasaki lost its edge but over the next two years WorldSBK had its greatest era of on track battling. This was when Rea was up against Toprak. On track their rivalry was incredibly intense but their respect for each other was huge. From the first time Razgatlioglu rode a Superbike he was touted as Kawasaki’s heir to Rea’s throne. Their paths left them on rival bikes, but it was stunning when they’d clash.

In 2020 WorldSBK distilled into a battle of Rea vs Razgatlioglu vs Redding. Kawasaki vs Yamaha vs Ducati. When the world went into lockdown, WorldSBK racing went into overtime. The racing was intense and the perfect tonic for a planet dealing with a global pandemic. Over the last five years it has been tougher and tougher for Rea to recapture that form but there were flashes. The best example was his 119^th race win. What might well prove to be his final victory was opportunistic and wonderful. In changeable conditions, we saw a rider grab his opportunity with both hands and win. The magic was still there at Kawasaki but since switching to the blue bikes of Yamaha he hasn’t been able to show that again.

STARTING TO WIND DOWN: the #65’s full-time career to end after 2025

Making the decision to retire from full-time racing wasn’t an easy one for Rea but it also wasn’t a difficult one. He wanted the opportunity to race and win again. That wasn’t presenting itself to him and for teams you can understand why they wanted to go down a different path to him. Rea might well continue to ride in 2026 and have some wildcard appearances, but his career is now winding down and his next challenges will be different.

IN SUMMARY: a career that likely won’t be matched, let alone beaten, for a long time

He has enjoyed a remarkable career and one that allows him to pursue other challenges and opportunities going forward. Rea has reached the end of the line of his career and when the flag drops on the 2025 season he will rightly be remembered as the greatest WorldSBK rider of all-time. Enjoy the final four rounds and the final twelve opportunities to see Rea racing full-time because it will be a long time until we see another rider with a career equal to him in WorldSBK.

Watch the final four rounds of Rea’s full-time career using the WorldSBK VideoPass – now half price!