Cycle News In The Paddock
COLUMN
Too-Late Toprak and a Tale of Lost Chances
The world’s premier jockeys have started their preseason gallops—MotoGP’s phony war—in Malaysia. But there was one very important person missing.
Toprak Razgatlioglu. Again.
The preeminent World Superbike rider’s name has been linked with a move to MotoGP several times over recent years, but there has always been one or another stumbling block. Not least, he and his manager Kenan Sofuoglu’s insistence he would only make the move into a full factory team. A step too far for potential employers, who rightly or wrongly believed even this major talent would need to spend some time learning the ropes.
The other stumbling block grows bigger year by year. It is simply the passage of time.
Toprak is clearly one of those exceptional talents. His exploits in SBK mean it is no great stretch to think of him in the same bracket as Marquez, Rossi and their select supergood forebears.
Or is it? He’s excelled in every class he’s contested so far. But he’s never actually raced against riders of that caliber.
Perhaps this doesn’t matter. But you will quite easily find a strand of argument that downgrades the level and the achievements of “production-bike” racers. This in spite of the fact that the technicalities and lap times of MotoGP and SBK, and the athletic antics of their riders, have grown ever closer, ever since MotoGP went four-stroke in 2002. All while dumbing-down tech regs have affected both series.
The Turk has played a leading role in this closeness, after switching from Kawasaki to Yamaha for the first of his two (is it, considering his talent, really only two?) SBK titles, then jumping ship to BMW for a miraculous 2024. In the course of which he took the German marque from underachievement to one-rider dominance. Uprooting Ducati, an achievement impossible in MotoGP.
Yet again, it seemed it was time for Toprak to make the long-awaited move. But it didn’t happen. There wasn’t anywhere for him to go, especially at the level he demands.
His former boon companions Yamaha, for whom he has tested a MotoGP bike in the past, might have had a sort of nearly-works ride available, given that their new satellite Pramac squad has been promised equal support and equipment. But the seats had already been allocated.
It’s hard not to think that he would have been an interesting fit, had the right strings been pulled at the right time.
There remains an intriguing possibility that Toprak’s current employers, BMW, might at last join the senior series, when the new rules come into play in 2027. Especially since KTM might by then be gone, leaving the necessary space on the grid. But at this stage, it’s a pie in the sky, a pie that has been hovering around for some time, with Dorna’s eager blandishments to the Bavarian marque regularly rebuffed.
Even if it were to come to pass, by then, Toprak would be 30 years old. Not too late for a talented rider to continue a successful career doing what he knows—Marc Marquez is 32, Maverick Vinales 30. But it is hardly the usual time to start afresh in a different paddock on different tires on a different and significantly more powerful and sophisticated motorcycle. Given the close margins in MotoGP, it is the nuances of understanding and technique that make the difference. Old dog, new tricks.
There should be nothing to prevent a rider who is good on a Superbike from being good on a MotoGP bike, if the timing is right, and if he is young enough. But the precedents are not particularly encouraging.
Carl Fogarty might easily have made an impact, had he found the opportunity early enough. It never came. In spite of his serial success in Superbikes, he always hankered after a GP seat.
Colin Edwards tried and made a very fair fist of it in a far-from-shabby GP career, which lasted for more than 10 years. No race wins, but he did rack up 12 podiums, including five second places. But the double Superbike champ was 29 when he made the switch. Had it happened earlier, he probably would have added race wins and stronger championship results.
You could say the same of Scott Russell and single GP winner Ben Spies. Not much more than merely respectable.
For serious success, the flow of riders generally goes the other way. Bautista is just the latest former GP winner to find greater glory in the Superbike paddock, in a long line that started with Raymond Roche in 1990, and includes John Kocinski, Carlos Checa and Max Biaggi. Superbikes, it seems, make fewer demands on riders, and it’s easier to step down than to step up.
Sorry, Toprak. Looks like you left it too late. And that’s a real pity for you and for MotoGP. CN
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