That headline is derived from one of the many saying of all-time boxing superstar , Muhammad Ali . But in WorldSBK , beyond the cold facts of the record books and statistics , who really is the greatest of all time ?
First things first . If we want to look at who is the greatest WorldSBK racer there has ever been , statistically speaking , it is the still-active six times Champion , Jonathan Rea . Having been a race winning Honda rider and six times Championship winning Kawasaki rider , Rea will be out to extend his own records in WorldSBK in 2024 after joining the official Pata Prometeon Yamaha squad .
His ambition knows no bounds , of course , that ’ s how you become a six-times Champion . He is the best rider ever in terms of Championship numbers , race wins , podiums , points scored , fastest laps , and he ’ s getting there in pole position totals .
With all those records it ’ s obvious that Rea ’ s the absolute GOAT , and nobody is taking that off him - not in reality and not in this feature story of comparisons either .
That said , another way to look at answering the ‘ best ever ’ question is to burrow around in at the statistics book in terms of percentages .
Some people say that to really start ranking people against each other , in a Championship which has changed both very little and in several profound ways since it all started in 1988 , you have to look at relative performances . It ’ s all about relativity , if you follow Einstein ’ s views .
If we think about it closely , a rider who raced in only one season , but won half the races and the title at the end of it , could maybe be said to be the best ever . But how would you compare that record to a rider who had ( theoretically ) won 50 races from just 100 starts ? The % win score would still be 50 % for each . But is it more impressive being a 50 % winner in one season or over several years ? Hypothetically , I mean ?
Well , let ’ s give you some material to argue about how long a rider has to be in WorldSBK , and what he or she would have to do to be regarded as truly one of the best ever . And there are some other things to throw into the mix as well .
First off , the ‘ irregulars .’
There are some very decent % win ratios if we can consider wildcard rider success in our list . These guys used to regularly show up in the UK , Australia , Japan , USA , etc , and whip the full-time riders . It is a different era now , but back then , most eventual WorldSBK stars in the making could call on strong wildcard results to kick start their global ambitions .
Why were they so good at home , even just once or twice ?
Consider their intimate track knowledge , sometimes tyre performance at some circuits before the adoption of Pirelli single make tyres in 2004 . Domestic Superbike tech specs were once pretty much identical to the ‘ big boys ’ in WorldSBK . This all contributed to some spectacular results , and in some cases strong statistical anomalies .
Quintuple GP blue ribbon Champion Mick Doohan for example , only raced in four individual WorldSBK races at the start of his career , but won three of them . One at Sugo in Japan and two at the old Aussie WorldSBK venue of Oran Park . That is a victory ratio of 75 % of all his race starts ( in the very first season of 1988 , for Yamaha Australia , if you were wondering ). He had crashed out while leading the opening Sugo race that year , or he would be Mr . 100 % right now . And nobody else approaches 100 % of all their races being wins , irregulars or otherwise . Mick ’ s 75 % win record is also a stand alone figure in absolute terms .
Now , nobody at all is doubting Mick ’ s racing credentials , as he has five MotoGP™ ( nee 500cc Grand Prix ) titles to bash the most doubting amateur statisticians over the head with if they were silly enough to impugn his abilities in any way . But can we count Doohan as the greatest ever WorldSBK rider despite his remarkable record ? Well , probably not , because he only ran in four races .
He is , however , easily the greatest wildcard there has ever been - and yet a generation or two later hardly anybody knows about his remarkable performances because he was off to GP racing and spectacular glory in no time at all after his short WorldSBK experiences .
OFFICIAL PROGRAMME 44
THE BIG READ