Johnathan Rea retains WSBK title

The World Superbike Championship isn't high up on people's list of sports to watch, but it's more important to roadgoing motorcycles, because the machinery in the series is based off of production bikes. That doesn't mean that the racing can't be close, though, but something exceptional has happened this year - Johnathan Rea has retained his title. 

Retaining a title isn't an easy thing to do at the best of times, but this is the first time a rider has managed the feat in WSBK since Carl Fogarty did it in 1998/99, 18 years ago. It is even more surprising when you add the fact that the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R that Rea has been riding this year is a new bike! In second place in the championship is his teammate Tom Sykes, just two points clear of Chaz Davies, who has the most number of wins this year aboard his Ducati. Rea let Sykes past during one of the two races at this past weekend in Qatar, so that the latter could gain enough of a points advantage over Davies, third in the riders' championship.