One of the riders who made his mark in the Superbike World Championship was Jonathan Rea. The rider who will represent Pata Yamaha in 2024 is a record holder with six titles, but throughout his career he has been linked to MotoGP more than once.
He even competed with Repsol Honda as a substitute rider, but he never made it full-time in the premier class. Instead, he remained loyal to WSBK.
Something that Ben Spies did not do, taking a risk by moving to MotoGP. The American stated, quoted by the site SPEEDWEEK.com, that Rea would have had to adapt his riding style and may have felt that staying in production-derived bikes was the best path to take:
