MotoGP is the premier class of motorcycle racing. There’s no question about that in the modern era. MotoGP is King and while the racing in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship has generally been better than its counterpart over the last five years, it still plays second fiddle. Almost every child taking their first tentative laps on track dreams of being the MotoGP World Champion. 

THE TRADITIONAL PATHWAY: through the ranks…

The pathway is simple. Bide your time in Red Bull Rookies or JuniorGP before stepping onto a Moto3 World Championship bike. After winning the title move onto the Moto2 class. Then you’re within a hair's breadth of lining up on the MotoGP grid. Pedro Acosta is the current poster boy for this progression but he’s just the latest in a line that has done it in the past.

…BUT THERE’S AN ALTERNATIVE: production-based machinery

That being said, there’s now more variety on the grid than there has been for a long time. Fermin Aldeguer has podium finishes to his name as a rookie but his path to stardom has been a tricky one. The 20-year-old came through the hard way. Racing a Superstock bike in CEV Moto2 in 2020, he earned some spurs and a switch to a Moto2 bike at 16 years of age. What he’s done since then has been incredible. He’s not the only STK600 rider on the MotoGP grid. Franco Morbidelli was the Champion in 2013 and went on to win a Moto2 World Championship before becoming a MotoGP star. Danilo Petrucci, a two-time race winner in MotoGP, is the product of Superstock racing. The Italian was the 2011 STK1000 runner-up before moving to MotoGP the following season. 

RAZGATLIOGLU’S ADAPTABILITY: his next chapter in MotoGP

Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) will be the next rider to tread that path. The Turkish superstar will do it with at least two WorldSBK titles to his name and as one of the highest profile rookies in MotoGP history. Razgatlioglu has channelled his inner JFK by saying, "We do this not because it is easy, but because it is hard." There will be no greater challenge for Toprak than taking on the MotoGP establishment. Experts in the paddock will, rightly, cite that his riding style won’t work with MotoGP bikes and tyres. They see an all-action braking style that can’t translate but what they don’t see is just how different Toprak is on the BMW compared to the Yamaha. His success on the BMW has been as much down to the engine braking as it has been his fingers on the brake lever. He has adapted incredibly well to three different bikes in his World Superbike career and now he wants to test it out again.

THE WOW FACTOR: leaving a unique impression…

Michelin tyres will be very different to the Pirelli rubber he has been using in recent years, and will use again in 2027, but Toprak is a unique talent. In my 15 years working in racing paddocks there have only been three riders that have left a unique impression. The first was Casey Stoner. The Australian was the fastest rider I had ever seen and could feel things that made him almost superhuman. I was at the Valencia test when Marc Marquez jumped onto Casey’s bike and, by the first afternoon, was contorting the bike into different shapes than we’d seen from an RCV213V. At the time Cal Crutchlow said that “Marc will jump onto that bike and instantly be the fastest rider in the world.” Typical of Cal that he was proven correct.

Razgatlioglu is the other rider that I’ve seen that has that wow factor. His adaptability and unique riding style have made him stand out over the years in Superbike racing. He’ll follow a path has travelled before. Crutchlow spent one year in WorldSBK before moving to MotoGP and winning three Grand Prix. The Englishman, a Supersport World Champion, enjoyed a long and successful MotoGP career. Troy Bayliss, a double Superbike champion, was a Grand Prix winner. Long before that Mick Doohan was a three-time winner as a local wildcard in WorldSBK before becoming a five times Grand Prix Champion. Making his name on the Australian Superbike scene, he quickly made an impact in MotoGP too.

FOLLOWING IN OTHERS’ FOOTSTEPS: other riders who took the production-based machinery route

While Doohan’s time on a Superbike was limited, the same can’t be said for another World Champion with production racing at his core; Nicky Hayden. It’s easy to think of Nicky as a MotoGP World Champion that came to WorldSBK to finish his career. The truth is that he was a brave and talented champion of American Superbike racing that forced the hands of Honda to give him a MotoGP seat that was ultimately rewarded with the 2006 World Championship. Hayden isn’t even a unique story. Ben Spies was a three time AMA Superbike Champion before winning the WorldSBK title in 2009. The following year he went to MotoGP and would win one Grand Prix before injuries curtailed his career. 

“HIS PERSONALITY, RIDING STYLE AND RACING BRAIN ARE TOP TIER” – what makes ‘El Turco’ special?

Toprak won’t change the game in MotoGP, but he also won’t be there to make up the numbers. He follows as the latest in a long line of production class riders who have gone to MotoGP and achieved great things. The fact that he could be lining up on the grid alongside Manuel Gonzalez, the 2019 Supersport 300 World Champion currently leads Moto2 and tested for Trackhouse Aprilia this week, just marks another feather in the cap for WorldSBK. MotoGP will gain a superstar with Toprak on the grid. His personality, riding style and racing brain are top tier. It’s been a shame that he’s had to wait until now to get a chance to move to MotoGP but now we’ll all get to see what he can do. I’d not bet against him.  

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