The Superbike World Championship no longer excites: Jonathan Rea's analysis

2026 WSBK season not very thrilling, except for Ducati: the competition is left with crumbs. Here’s what a legend like Rea thinks.

All 24 Superbike races this year have been won by Ducati, with Nicolò Bulega taking as many as 23 victories and his teammate Iker Lecuona the only alternative winner. The new Panigale V4 R is a step forward compared to the previous model, and even the riders from independent teams are managing to score significant results. The competition is struggling and cannot keep up with the Bologna-based manufacturer, resulting in races whose outcome is practically written from the start.

The 2026 WSBK championship will not be remembered as spectacular or gripping; hopefully 2027 will bring a different scenario. Much will depend on the work Ducati’s rival manufacturers can do, as well as on potential changes to the technical regulations aimed at making the competition more balanced. Not to forget the Michelin factor: will the new tire supplier change the pecking order on track?

Jonathan Rea is a six-time world champion and knows the class very well. Although he retired as a full-time rider at the end of 2025, in 2026 he became a Honda test rider and competed in some rounds as a wild card or replacement. Analyzing the situation, he can only point out the lack of spectacle: "Right now — reports Crash.net — the championship has no emotion. Superbike should be exciting. This lack of emotion is nobody’s fault. Chapeau to Ducati, they’ve built an incredible bike and have a rider who is riding incredibly, and you can’t take anything away from them. Now the bike is by far the benchmark, and sometimes it’s hard for the other riders or manufacturers."

The big battles between SBK riders are missing; there aren’t the heated duels that thrilled fans in the past. It’s necessary to understand how to intervene—whether something can be done in terms of changes to the technical regulations to achieve a more balanced championship—or whether it’s simply up to Ducati’s rival manufacturers to work harder: "The sportbike market is tough," Rea explains, "and when you’re a mass producer you can’t just magically build a ‘super-super-superbike’."

The six-time WSBK champion recognizes the great work done by Ducati and its riders, Bulega first and foremost, but he also hopes the other manufacturers can return to prominence as soon as possible: "For sure, we need more excitement, but I’m not trying to downplay what the guys up front are doing, because it’s incredible. Still, the show is missing something. It’s up to everyone else to make up ground. It’s a real headache to bring back excitement or give hope to Bimota or Honda, Yamaha or BMW. They need hope to want to keep fighting."

Certainly, it’s in everyone’s interest to have a more hard-fought and interesting championship. That also applies to Ducati itself, which at the same time has every right to defend its status and its investments, opposing a system that could penalize it too much while disproportionately helping the competition. We’ll see how discussions on possible changes to the technical regulations develop, but the other manufacturers still need to accept that they must do more to raise their level from 2027 onward.