WSBK: Beyond Rea vs Redding – Who to watch in 2020?

The anticipated championship battle between Jonathan Rea and Scott Redding is dominating the early headlines of the upcoming World Superbike season.

Rea and the Kawasaki Racing Team are running out of superlatives, having won the title for the last five years and being the big favourites again. Redding meanwhile enters the series as the reigning British Superbike champion and joins a team that has proven to be capable of challenging for the title in Aruba.it Ducati.

The two Brits undoubtedly are the main title contenders and will push each other hard for the championship crown over the course of the season. But there is more to 2020 than whether Rea will take a sixth title or whether Redding will beat him to it and become the only rider besides Troy Bayliss to win the British and the World Superbike Championship. Here are four other riders to keep an eye on in 2020:

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu

The Yamaha R1 is entering its fifth year in the championship and it is high time to deliver. Yamaha were hoping for race wins in their first season and aimed to challenge for the title after three years latest and while they were performing below their own targets so far, substantial development work went into the machinery.

The new model of the YZF R1 is evolution rather than revolution, refining  the shortcomings of the previous bike and offering the opportunity for Yamaha to make the final breakthrough – And Toprak Razgatlıoğlu could be the rider to do it.

Razgatlıoğlu impressed in his first two full seasons and has proven that, with the right bike underneath him, he is capable of running at the front and winning races.

The Turkish rider got the best out of the Puccetti Kawasaki and rode it to two victories in 2019, but there are significant differences between the characteristics of the Kawasaki and the Yamaha. The big question that remains is how quickly he can make the transition and adjust his riding style to the new bike.

The winter tests, however, suggest that Razgatlıoğlu is getting to grips with the R1 well, showing consistently good pace and topping the time sheets after the final day of testing in Portimão. Crucially, he looks to have found solutions for his issues with the Q tyre to maximise his performance over one lap.

Furthermore, Razgatlıoğlu is taking Phil Marron, who he has a strong bond to and achieved success with in the past, with him as his crew chief and has one of the most established World Superbike frontrunners as his team mate in Michael van der Mark.

Razgatlıoğlu brings the talent and the Pata Yamaha Team provides the right environment to not only fight for race wins but to pose a title challenge.

Álvaro Bautista

It is up for debate whether Kawasaki won the 2019 championship or whether Ducati lost it. Álvaro Bautista looked to have the title in the bag before a series of unforced errors brought Jonathan Rea back into the hunt and eventually to the top of the standings. However, at the same time, Bautista was the reason why Ducati were in the position to fight for the title in the first place.

The Spaniard made the transition from MotoGP to the World Superbike Championship smoothly and while the other Ducati riders initially struggled with the new Panigale V4 R, Bautista was untouchable at the front. His riding style clicked with the Grand Prix characteristics of the bike and formed a combination that looked impossible to beat.

Bautista’s capabilities as a rider are beyond dispute and Honda, similarly to Ducati, could give him the bike to unfold his potential. HRC’s engagement in World Superbike was somewhat lax in the past seasons, but the 2020 Honda Racing Team will enjoy full factory support and HRC made a real statement of intent by signing Bautista and Leon Haslam.

The last time HRC ran a full factory effort in World Superbike dates back to 2002 and back then, they won the title with Colin Edwards. Now that the Japanese manufacturer is in the championship with all its know-how and resources again, it is hard to imagine that they will not add a competitive bike to the grid.

Honda kept their cards close to their chest so far, but the team personnel looked confident at the winter tests and the first outings of the CBR1000RR-R SP made for a promising prospect. Bautista seemed to have struggled under braking at the final test day, but the overall project looks to be about 90 per cent there with only a few issues left to fix.

Bautista as a proven race winner and HRC as one of the biggest names in motorcycle racing have every chance to put up a competitive challenge in 2020.

Tom Sykes

Tom Sykes looked to have got his mojo back in his first season at BMW last year. As a former world champion and consistent frontrunner, Sykes is one of the most prestigious riders on the grid and after years of being second to his team mate Jonathan Rea at the Kawasaki Racing Team, the Yorkshireman visibly relished the new challenge with the German manufacturer.

BMW were coming on in leaps and bounds at their return as a factory team and perhaps even exceeded expectations with Sykes finishing on the podium on multiple occasions. The strength and motivation of the outfit are evident and BMW secured a rider line-up for 2020 that guarantees that their development curve will continueto point upwards.

The worth of Sykes, as the rider that essentially transformed Kawasaki’s fortunes and paved their way to success, is invaluable when it comes to developing a bike and he will now be joined by his former title rival Eugene Laverty who brings even more experience to the team.

BMW worked through an extensive programme at the winter tests, focusing on chassis, electronics and braking, to push the promising work done in 2019 further. They already demonstrated that they can challenge at the front and for Sykes and BMW, the only way in 2020 is up.

Loris Baz

After missing the first five rounds of the 2019 season, Loris Baz and the Ten Kate Racing Team went from nowhere to podium contention over the course of just a few races.

The Dutch team were facing financial struggles and an unclear future after losing backing from Honda in 2018, but the switch to Yamaha machinery turned out to be a masterstroke. They progressed at an incredible pace and Baz excelled particularly in damp conditions to get close to the rostrum multiple times. Overall, the Frenchman secured a top 10 finish in the final championship standings and surpassed all expectations.

Baz and Ten Kate built on the work done and scintillated as one of the stand-out performers at the winter tests with consistently strong pace throughout. And crucially, Baz did not crash on the Q tyre, which posed a pervasive issue in 2019 and compromised his races from the start.

Last season set the tone of what is possible for the line-up and with the momentum they have going right now, Baz could be the dark horse of 2020.