WSBK | Silly Season | 2026

You're right. Early on he took out Rinaldi, got himself concussed in another incident, got taken out by Cortese, and then crashed himself out after making contact with Rea. My interpretation of the comments above is that we are discussing the difference between being aggressive rather than assertive and the ability to strategize. In my opinion, the comment about Garrett "not being a racer" is more about his ability to be a strategist versus his riding ability. In any elite level activity (e.g., sport, business, etc.) the top, top participants are able to actively strategize and manipulate the situation around them. I don't use manipulate in a nefarious tone. It's more about taking inventory of the available resources and then managing toward the best possible outcome. Finally, on the topic of aggression versus assertiveness. Aggression is wasteful. Assertiveness is about acting deliberately with a broader outcome in mind; it's the difference between eating one cookie today versus owning the cookie factory a year from now.

 

Exactly the point I was trying to make.

 

You always talks such purdy inglish. While I'd agree with your word choice in the normal world, I'm not sure assertiveness is as applicable in racing. I think you're meaning to define having a strategic goal and being able to control the factors involved in that, whereas perhaps you think aggression doesn't fit that definition. In racing I think it does, though certainly blind aggression without strategy tends to end badly. I wouldn't characterize Toprak as 'assertive', but he's certainly got a strategic channel that's highly developed. Toprak is aggressive with a plan. I think Garret was aggressive in his years with Yamaha, but it was more "I'm gonna pitch it in here and see what happens" kind of thing. Watching David Alonso in Moto3 last year is a great example of that. You could almost see the multiple thought processes going on in his head while he's running at a super strong pace, knowing it was only a matter of 'when' before he pulled the trigger on his plan.

 

I see Bautista is not retiring and looking for a Honder.

 

I didn’t intentionally leave anything out.

Their combined record is 819 races and nine wins.

We are talking about the transition from Superbikes or 125/250 or Moto2/Moto3 to GPs, not who sucked or didn’t suck in your opinion.

 

Aww shucks...

My issue with using aggression is that it tends to inspire "SEND IT!!!" type behavior and yields a poor outcome (best case) or ending up on your ass (a least worser outcome followed by a series of spiraling calamities). Nonetheless, we're on the same page. Blind aggression is what I'm thinking of when I reference aggression; however, what I describe as assertiveness is deliberate, assertive action carried out with considered thought to reach a desired outcome. It's not soft or even courteous per se. It just isn't t fool hearty, brash, and ill-considered brute force flailing about.

 

Seems to me that with the comparison being level of achievement, leaving out a world championship is deliberately miss-leading at best.

 

In my defense of Gerloff, I'd also point out that I think people may be confusing winning or running at the front as being a "racer". If you're on worse equipment, or (gasp) you're just not the best out there, it doesn't mean you're not a racer. I see him still take chances and make passes (when tv coverage allows). Last year he showed that quite a bit actually and would make a late charge through the field presumably having kept more life in his tires. If you use your race craft to make a perfectly executed pass to move from 14th to 13th, that's still absolutely a racer in these same terms that the OP of this topic was referring to. Just because we see certain riders on screen constantly doesn't mean the rest of the field is just parading around single file. The perfectly executed pass to move up to 13th isn't going to get any airtime when there's a 3 riders at the front riding around with a 1sec gap between them just because they're at the front.

I think the BMW last year was a solid bike and his performance wasn't podium, win, podium, win, etc. That says something about where his skill level is compared to the rest of the field. I'm not hating even 1%. Everyone can't win! This year he's on one of the worst bikes out there. Last year's Kawasaki on a single-rider team with no development. Focus and attention went to Bimota and they're not even equaling their performance the year prior.

I think Garett is an exceptional world-class racer who gives it his all every time he goes out there. I think on a Ducati or back on a BMW he would immediately improve. That said, I don't think he's a championship winner on any bike, but he's putting on his suit and behaving like a racer day after day.

 

Then let's remove what you feel is misleading:

Non-Superbike-based GP/MotoGP Championship winners = 73
Superbike-based GP/MotoGP Championship winners = 1

 

I'm not Superbike-based, so what you're saying is I have a really good chance!

 

He needs to take his world championships and go home. He's already had a retirement season to wave at the fans.

 

Once again you are stating only the statistics which point others to agree with you. WSBK has only been in existence since 1988, so comparing total championships is pointless and miss-leading. You did not compare total SBK based wins to non- SBK riders, you just stated a number, how about the same and not that it is 9 wins and 1 championship, Not to hard to just state relevant facts and save your bias.

 

I didn't say anything about WSBK, you added that.

So let's try again, using the numbers since WSBK began.

Non-Superbike-based GP/MotoGP race wins = 614
Superbike-based GP/MotoGP race wins = 9

 

Mick Doohan raced superbikes before moving into GP. Did you count all his wins and championships as well?

 

"Petrucci (SSTK1000), Crutchlow, Spies, Edwards, Hayden (AMA SBK to MotoGP); those guys all did pretty damn okay. And imo none of those guys were on the level of Toprak (no offense to any of them)."

Where do you see Mick Doohan's name in The Great One's 5-Rider list quoted above?

 

Absolute king of moving goalposts.
Congratulations, no point in any discussion with you.

 

Are you seriously suggesting that Nicky Hayden was the only GP champion that came from Superbikes in the history of GP? He was simply the last.
Never heard of Mick Doohan, Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Rainey, Eddie Lawson, Freddie Spencer? For 20 years at least former Superbike racers dominated GP…

If you want to make the point that times have changed, fine. But your assertion here is dumb…

 

Yes, remember France in the wet with the two Bmw's. Arragon etc. You felt a race win was going to come any minute. Then BANG. They destroyed hi. He used to look physically ill on the grid. The talent is there.

 

If I am Dorna, I would be seriously making a competitive space open up in WSBK for GG or JR. They will never grow in the US without a top US rider. How bad do they want it? I think GG with a hard reset in his own head and a fast BMW could make a lot of believers. He needs a sports psychiatrist though. RESET.

 

This. I like the guy. Super talented, and a really nice guy. Always polite with the fans when he was in the states. But he worries too much what other people think about him. He takes the media hits pretty hard, and I think that's the biggest thing keeping him from actually utilizing the talent he has.