WSB Rider of the Year: 1st - Jonathan Rea

After another epic season of racing, MCN’s sports team of Michael Guy (Sports Editor), Simon Patterson (MotoGP Reporter) and Oli Rushby (Superbike Reporter) sat down to discuss who impressed them the most in each race series we cover to establish MCN’s top five riders in each category.

And after a hectic World Superbike season, it wasn’t an easy call to decide who deserved what spot in our top five riders of the year in the class. Here’s what we think –  but feel free to disagree with us in the comments!

World Superbike Rider of the Year: 1st – Jonathan Rea 

The title of World Superbike Rider of the Year was not a hard one to decide, with Jonathan Rea becoming the most successful WSB rider of all time as he secured his fourth world crown in 2018.

The Ulsterman has been unbeaten since joining Kawasaki in 2015, and clinched his fourth world crown in Magny Cours with two and a half rounds remaining.

Rea was in a class of his own throughout the 2018 season, taking an incredible 17 victories across the year and finishing off the podium just three times enabling him to build an insurmountable points gap to Chaz Davies in second.

The victory saw him equal Carl Fogarty’s record for the most World Superbike titles with four crowns, but having surpassed the former Ducati ace’s all-time win record at Brno, Rea can now officially be called the most successful WSB racer of all time. He ended the season with 71 World Superbike wins to his name, more than double the amount of the next active rider on the all-time wins list (Tom Sykes, 34).