Why World Superbikes Are Basically MotoGP Now — And Why That’s a Problem
- Ben Grayson
- Nov 13
- 3 min read
World Superbikes used to be the relatable championship. The series where you’d look at the bikes on the grid and think:“Yeah… that’s basically the one in the dealership down the road.”
But over the last few years something weird has happened: WSBK bikes have become almost as fast as MotoGP bikes. And as much as people pretend otherwise, the whole “production-based” thing is slowly becoming a bit of a joke.
So let’s talk about how we got here and why, in my opinion, World Superbikes has lost its identity.
WSBK Bikes Are Now Just… Too Fast
Let’s start with the obvious: at several circuits, WSBK lap times are within one or two seconds of MotoGP.
A second!
MotoGP bikes are prototype monsters with unlimited engineering budgets, carbon everything, wings that look like a wasp on steroids, and enough electronics to run the grid at Silverstone.
WSBK bikes, on paper at least, are meant to be based on something you or I can actually buy.But if the times are that close, then clearly they’re not that “production-based” anymore.
The line between the championships is getting seriously blurred.
Homologation Specials Have Broken the Spirit of the Series
Remember when a “superbike” in WSBK actually resembled a road-going R1, Fireblade, GSX-R, or ZX-10R?
Yeah… not so much anymore.
Manufacturers now build borderline MotoGP-spec specials just to pass homologation:
ultra-exclusive
ultra-expensive
limited-run
and filled with prototype-level parts
The race bikes barely resemble what’s on showroom floors. Most riders will never even see one of these specials, let alone buy one.
WSBK has become an arms race, not a production-based race series.
If WSBK Is This Close to MotoGP… Why Do We Need Both?
This is the uncomfortable question nobody wants to ask.
If WSBK bikes are running similar lap times…If the electronics are almost as advanced…If the aero packages look like MotoGP cast-offs…If the bikes only vaguely resemble road machines…
Then why do we need two championships that are practically doing the same thing?
MotoGP is supposed to be the top tier — the alien technology playground.WSBK should be the championship you can relate to as an everyday rider.
Right now, they’re drifting into each other’s territory, and that hurts the identity of both.
What WSBK Should Be (And Why BSB Gets It Right)
Here’s where I think WSBK has gone wrong — and why British Superbikes is still brilliant.
BSB keeps things simple:
No fancy electronics
Bikes that genuinely start life in a dealership
Real rider talent on display
Proper, elbows-out racing
You don’t need to spend £100k on prototype trickery to make great racing.You need close grids, mechanical parity, and riders who are willing to knock lumps out of each other at 180mph.
WSBK used to be that.Now it feels more like MotoGP Lite.
If World Superbikes wants to reclaim its soul, it needs to go back toward BSB-style regulations:
Let manufacturers build the very best road-going superbike they can…Then let the rider take it to the limit.
Simple. Honest. Relatable.Everything WSBK used to be.
Why It Won’t Change Anytime Soon
The problem isn’t the rules — it’s the manufacturers.
They want WSBK to feel like MotoGP because it gives them the “halo effect” for marketing.It lets them sell eye-wateringly expensive specials to collectors, hype the brand, and brag about how their bike is “derived from the world’s fastest production racer.”
But there’s a price for all that:
The racing becomes less relatable
The costs explode
The grids shrink
And the championship loses its identity
MotoGP is supposed to be the space-age stuff.World Superbikes should be superbikes.
Right now, both look like prototype racing with slightly different stickers.
Time for a Reset
If it were up to me?
WSBK would rewind the rulebook:
more road-bike DNA
fewer prototype parts
tighter cost controls
simpler electronics
closer racing
a clearer identity
MotoGP can keep being the engineering freakshow — that’s its job.WSBK needs to rediscover the charm that made people love it in the first place.
Because right now?It’s hard to shake the feeling that we’re watching two versions of the same championship — and only one of them is supposed to be truly “superbike” racing.
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