After triumph and tragedy, Turkey’s humble motorcycle megastar is starting over
By Jonathan Hawkins, CNN
(CNN) — At 29 years old with three world titles and millions of followers on social media, you could forgive most sports stars for easing back a little and enjoying their success.
Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, however, is not interested in resting on any laurels. Instead, this year the former World Superbike star chose to jump on an untried bike in MotoGP and break new ground as the first ever Turkish rider to compete at the pinnacle of two-wheeled motorsport.
Razgatlıoğlu has neither the build nor the demeanor one might expect of a triple World Superbike champion. At a rangy 6-foot-1, he towers over most riders on the MotoGP grid, while his affable, laid-back disposition reflects both an unconventional upbringing and a path to the top that has involved hard work and personal tragedy.
Son of a stunt rider
Born in the ancient Turkish beach resort of Alanya – where legend has it Egyptian queen Cleopatra herself once bathed in the warm Mediterranean waters – Razgatlıoğlu has motorcycling in his genes. His father, Arif Razgatlıoğlu, had national fame of his own as a stunt rider and was known as “One Wheel Arif.”
“In Turkey, he was very famous, everyone knew him, you know, all the young boys, many people, if you were riding a bike, everyone knew my father,” Razgatlıoğlu tells CNN Sports proudly at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas.
Like many of his peers on the grid, Razgatlıoğlu began riding at a very young age. “I’m starting, five years old maybe? But at seven years old, I started stunt riding, riding like a stunt rider. First, I learn riding the bike, then the next, wheelie,” he smiles.
But despite his family heritage in stunt riding, Razgatlıoğlu didn’t take to it like his father. “I started as a stunt rider, (but) at 10 years or 11 years old, I say, ‘You know, I don’t like it – it’s not so fun.’ Yeah, maybe I make a wheelie on a bike, I always enjoy, but I like to race.”
Razgatlıoğlu says his father always supported his decision to forge his own destiny.
“We have many videos, because (my dad) was always, ‘I make a video,’” he recalls. “I think I was maybe 13 years old, maybe 12 years old, we have a video with my father, he says, ‘One day, my son will race in MotoGP.’”
Renting and racing bikes
Bike racing is an expensive pastime, and Razgatlıoğlu’s family had to make sacrifices and be creative to sustain his passion.
“We are not a rich family, but my father always sold bikes, and we were always going to race. In Turkey, we had a shop, a rental shop, and we would give a bike out to rent, then when the bike came back in; we change the fairing, we put on the racing fairing, and in the night, we go to the racetrack,” Razgatlıoğlu laughs.
“And I’m racing the bike, then after we come back home, in the morning, we change the fairing again, and the bike is going out to rent.”
Eventually, Razgatlıoğlu found his way into the Red Bull Rookie’s Cup, a youth competition that has forged a path for many top MotoGP racers. Peter Clifford, director of rider development and media for the Red Bull Rookies Cup, first spotted Razgatlıoğlu on social media.
“He was posting photos of him wheelieing things, you know, he probably was only 11 or 12 at the time, but he obviously had enormous motorcycle skill. And I thought, ‘Well, that’d be fantastic to try and channel those skills in the Rookies Cup.’ So, he applied for the Cup, and actually initially didn’t get in because he’d got zero road racing experience.”
Eventually, the teenager found his way into the Cup via a selection event, but Razgatlıoğlu says he struggled to make an impact, partly because of his increasing height. “I didn’t do a really good job in the Rookies Cup,” he says, “because the 250cc bikes were so small.”
Clifford instead recalls a clear talent: “He had natural ability, you know, balance and that sort of thing. So, he grew up in Rookie’s Cup and learned a great deal over the two years he was in it.
“We’d seen his skills, and it didn’t matter what motorcycle he was going to be on, Toprak would learn to get the best out of it.”
After four successful years in the European and FIM Superstock series, Razgatlıoğlu made the transition in 2018 to World Superbike, a formidable class with a global following, racing highly-tuned stock bikes. Within four years, he clinched the world title; but his father was not there to see it.
Tragedy
In November 2017, the elder Razgatlıoğlu was riding his motorcycle through the streets of Antalya, Turkey, with his young girlfriend, Ülkü Özcan, who was riding pillion. A pick-up truck pulled out of a side street and the 59-year-old collided with it. Both Razgatlıoğlu and Özcan were killed.
“My father did not see my first world title because, in 2021, I got my first title with Yamaha in Indonesia. I say this is more for my Dad, you know?” Razgatlıoğlu says. “He was always working really hard for me and always had a dream for MotoGP. I’m not thinking the dream, but he always make a dream for me.”
Even more than his world titles, Razgatlıoğlu says he wishes his father could have seen his step up to MotoGP.
“Finally, I did the first title in the world championship, but now I’m in MotoGP, this is incredible, but I feel he sees; if he’s in the life, if he sees the reality, you know? This one, for me, is incredible.”
Breaking new ground
To be the first Turkish rider in MotoGP is a responsibility Razgatlıoğlu takes seriously.
“I’m, I know, the first Turkish MotoGP rider, but I also feel the pressure because this is the first time. And also I need to show something special – results, you know? This is very important because I’m doing my best for my country also.”
Razgatlıoğlu has joined Prima Pramac Yamaha, where he rides alongside veteran Australian rider Jack Miller, at a point of transition for the Japanese manufacturer.
MotoGP’s regulations will undergo a radical overhaul for the 2027 season, with a switch to 850cc engines, Pirelli tires, and the elimination of aero aids, ride-height devices, and so-called hole-shot devices, which enable bikes to launch off the grid.
Yamaha has decided to try and get ahead of those changes by developing a new engine this season, more similar in character to next year’s engine. The gamble means that everything is new for both Yamaha and Razgatlıoğlu.
“You know, when I’m learning this paddock and this bike, and also with the new project, this is really hard for me,” Razgatlıoğlu admits. “Everyone is working really hard, you know? From Brazil to Austin, we fly all together with my team, and also the factory, Yamaha. They are working on the plane, like, you fly, say, eight hours, they are working six or seven hours on the plane with the computer.
“When I’m watching a movie, I’m always seeing the computer because (the engineer) is working. He’s opened the, you know, the race, looking at data, you know, everyone working so hard everywhere.”
A really good teammate
Gino Borsoi, Team Manager at Pramac, has been impressed with Razgatlıoğlu’s attitude.
“It’s a big surprise because he is a three-time world champion. As a person, I could say he’s one of the best guys I’ve met in this paddock,” Borsoi tells CNN Sports.
“He’s a really good teammate. He likes to stay with the team, it’s easy to talk with him. He listens to a lot of tips that we are able to give him, so it’s a pleasure, really a pleasure, to work with Toprak because you never expect that a three-time world champion has really an open mind like his.”
Borsoi believes that the combination of Toprak and Miller, with his long experience of MotoGP, can be a winning one.
“Jack Miller with, let’s say, a knowledge of a different kind of bike in the past, but to also have a fresh rider with different mindset, is good for us,” he says. “We have to start from the bottom, like, our situation. I mean, we have to be patient right now. We have to, let’s say, go step by step, race by race, improve our performance, don’t dream too much, because at the moment, we know where we are.
“And, the journey is still long, but if you have a great guy inside a garage, like Miller and Toprak, where they never complain about the situation because they know where they are. So, it becomes still more easy.”
“Jack and me, we are working very good and very well,” Razgatlıoğlu says. “He’s, yeah, a crazy rider, but he’s working very well and sometimes he’s also there helping me. This is good because, you know, it’s the first year for me – I’m still learning.”
One of the best ever
Journalist and commentator Neil Morrison, co-host of the Paddock Pass podcast, has followed Razgatlıoğlu’s career and believes he is the real deal.
“I think, without question, Toprak is one of the best Superbike riders ever,” he tells CNN Sports. “I think one of the major reasons that everyone is so excited about Toprak coming into MotoGP is the fact that he is the reigning World Superbike Champion. It’s the first time we’ve had the reigning World Superbike champion in this class since Ben Spies, all the way back in 2010.”
Morrison also believes the Turkish rider’s accomplishments are comparable with some of the biggest stars of MotoGP.
“I think there’s a wide perception that what Toprak was doing in the last couple of years in World Superbikes was kind of almost equal to some of the feats that we saw from the champions here, the likes of Pecco Bagnaia, Jorge Martín, even Marc Márquez, because Toprak on a Superbike just was so spectacular, so consistently good.”
Clifford is also excited by Razgatlıoğlu’s prospects in MotoGP, but equally impressed by his humble attitude, years on from his stint in the Rookie’s Cup.
“People who are lovely people, teenagers, don’t always remain like that; but having bumped into him more recently, it’s very heartening to see that he is still a super kid, a super guy, a young, you know, grown man now, and I really wish him the best.”
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