T
he 2020 World Superbikes season
was shaping up to be the season
we’d all been waiting for. Jonathan
Rea’s domination of the series on the
KRT ZX-10R had made for some very
predictable racing in recent years, but
there were some indications in 2019
that perhaps that domination was under
threat. Alvaro Bautista, on the new
Ducati V4, ruled the first half of the
season before inexplicably making
a complete hash of the backend of
the year to give Rea a run at the title
that had looked completely out of
his reach. Toprak Razgatioglu, on the
Puccetti Kawasaki put in some late
season performances that showed a
huge amount of maturity for a rider
who was only 22 years old at the start
of the year. Lowes and Van der Mark on
the Yamahas were always in the mix and
Chaz Davies, after a very slow start to the
season, began to find some of his old
form as the season wound down.
The off season saw a huge number
of rider changes with none of the
major teams going into 2020 with the
same line up as they finished 2019. The
biggest move was Bautista, who still
finished season 2019 in second spot on
the ladder after his poor second half of
the year, leaving Ducati and joining the
Honda team which was heading into
2020 with a completely new bike.