Bobby Fong on the Superbike World Championship: "It was mentally devastating

There are moments when the track becomes a mirror, and what it reflects isn’t pleasant. Not pleasant at all: it shatters every certainty. Bobby Fong is a star in MotoAmerica. This year he fought for the title right up to the final race. Then he flew to Europe for the last two rounds of the Superbike World Championship and was soundly beaten even by the youngsters.

WorldSBK and MotoAmerica are two very distant worlds, the gap is significant—deeper than the Atlantic Ocean.

In the United States, Fong battled for the championship down to the last meter. He arrived at New Jersey Motorsports Park with an 8-point lead, extended it with a win on Saturday, but then two crashes, the title slipped away, and a third place that felt as heavy as a boulder. After the American disappointment, he and the Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha team got the chance to race as wild cards in the Superbike World Championship.

"I told myself, ‘Let’s go have some fun—when will I get a chance like this again?’" Fong told MotoAmerica’s official website. "I was really excited to go to World Superbike. But every session I got crushed. Every day, worse than the one before. Everything I’d learned in America was worthless. Nothing. It was the opposite. Riding, tires, electronics… every time I pushed, I got worse. It was mentally devastating. The last MotoAmerica weekend and the two in WorldSBK were three hard hits, three punches to the gut."

The problem wasn’t the riders, at least not in the way you’d expect: "It’s not that they were all stronger. No. Only two made me think, ‘These guys have something special’: Toprak and Bulega. Them, yes—they’re in another category."

2026 is approaching with new challenges: an updated Ducati, Beaubier on the Panigale, tougher and better-prepared rivals: "If Beaubier makes the Ducati work, it’ll be really tough. But risk is part of this sport. You need to give 110% every lap, on every track. I took punches from all sides, and that’s fine" Fong concludes, with a smile that betrays a new confidence — "Now I know what it really takes. Now I know where I need to get."

The World Championship stripped him bare. MotoAmerica wounded him. 2026 puts him in front of a wall that looks taller than yesterday.