James Toseland, World Superbike Champion at just 23 years old, has rocketed into a league of biking legends, following in the footsteps of Carl Fogarty, Troy Bayliss and Neil Hodgson.Despite his relative youth, The Sheffield-born rider has more racing experience under his leathers than some of the series' other veterans. Early competition in trials and motocross awarded him an impressive haul of trophies and ultimately laid the foundations of a promising career in road racing.James quickly worked his way up through the ranks of 125cc racing and into British Supersport and shone in the European Championship. However, it was in 1998, at the tender age of 16, when he was given his big break and was chosen by Castrol Honda to ride the CBR600 in the World Supersport series.Never one to turn down a challenge, over the next two seasons, James finished 18th and 11th overall before returning to Britain to ride in the 2000 British Superbike Championship.Despite missing almost half the season through injury, the Yorkshireman finished 12th and was quickly snapped-up by GSE Racing for its World Superbike campaign. An impressive 13th place in the 2001 series, including sixth at Brands Hatch, was enough to confirm the rider as a clear World Superbike contender.Since then, James has emerged as a world-class rider. In only his second year in the world Superbike series in 2002, he made his name as a regular top-six finisher and scored his first-ever podium finish at Assen. In 2003, he ended fellow Brit Hodgson's winning streak with an impressive win at Oschersleben and earned his first pole position in the final round at Magny-Cours.An extraordinary 2004 season with Ducati followed, with James making the history books as the youngest-ever World Superbike Champion. Despite a relatively tough 2005 season with the Ducati team - when he finished fourth overall - James bounced back in 2006 to take second potion overall with Winston Ten Kate Honda.2007 heralds his seventh consecutive year as a permanent fixture on the Superbike grid - this time with HANNspree Ten Kate Honda.
