Is this showboating or what???!!! I can only dream of having bike control like this, knee on the deck, smoke pouring off the rear tire, front end crossed-up, and one hand off the bar. Respect!
When you think of the job that these guys have, racing every weekend, testing as often as possible, and the fact that those in the top classes have probably done this since they were very young, you begin to understand how finely-honed their skills are.
Great shot from Howard Boylan here. A former MCN photographer, he's just joined Flickr! and has some other great shots. I like what he does with light and how he gets up close and personal in his action work. A real pro, and something that I continue to aspire too...
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Xaus!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Andrea Dovizioso.2008.MalaysiaGP
This kind of sums it up, doesn't it? Get behind the bubble and twist the right grip for all it's worth as the world blurs by. Dovi has had an inspiring rookie season in the premiere class and scored a well-deserved podium at Sepang. I gotta admit that I was rooting for Hayden to make the pass and make the podium, but at the end I was just happy for a well-fought race.
Some would argue that even if he doesn't win rookie of the year honors, he deserves it more than Jorge Lorenzo. I'd be one of those arguing. Dovi, after all, had a customer bike; Lorenzo had full factory support.
What I really like about this shot from Alex Leong is that it almost looks like a black and white, with all the well-rendered silver and grays. It just so happens that the team colors are primarily monochromatic, but in this shot it looks like the color has been stripped away to reduce riding to its bare essence, rider and bike working in unison, the point where one ends and the other begins bare distinguishable. Thanks for sharing Alex!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Valentino Rossi's Motors
As the manufacturers roll out their 2009 bikes at the various trade and dealer shows, it just reminds me that the bikes just get smaller every year...
Monday, September 29, 2008
Pan Shot
Wow, the bike in this photo is reduced to its basics, simple lines describing simple geometries. Its placement against the blurred, light-colored pavement accentuates these qualities. It could almost be drawn with a fine marker. That alone makes for an interesting shot, but add the rider with his spinning legs and the blurred background, and wow. Just wow...
Thursday, April 10, 2008
checa_checking_in_VAL_SPA_08_WSBk
I had read that Carlos Checa had entered the Valencia track in an unusual way! Seriously, that looks like quite a rush and just the thing a guy who rides 200Mph motorcycles for a living needs to relax.
This photo is quite surreal, with the patchwork of farms interrupted by the geometric twists of the Valencia circuit. Below that is a patchwork of paths at yet another scale. Completing the shot is the hovering Checa, limbs splayed as if he is enraptured. It all adds up to an odd, intriguing shot by caferacerx who clearly had the best seat in the house.
The weekend's races were filled with great racing and fantastic drama. Right now, World Superbike is the greatest two-wheeled show on earth. MotoGP may have more exotic bikes and the pinnacle of talent, but WSBK is just that much more unpredictable and thus more compelling.
After years in MotoGP on inferior machinery and with lackluster results, Checa seems reborn and stunningly fast in WSBK. Being on the perennially excellent Ten Kata team certainly helps, but at the end of the day the guy twisting the throttle has no which way to twist.
In Race One Checa provided much of the drama with a racelong charge to the front, setting consistently blistering laps that brought him within one turn from victory. Up to that last turn, Max Neukirchner had been having the perfect weekend. Fast from the first practice session to his stunning Superpole lap, Max had taken the lead early in the race and was one turn away from a dominating victory.
Alas, here comes charging Checa, clearly enjoying his charge to the front, probably overjoyed to be competitive - even dominant - once again, and with only one thing between him and a phoenix-like ressurection - poor Max.
When you've spent the better part of a race humbling some of the best racers in the world in your charge to the front, it must be easy to think you can make that last pass on the last turn (in the photo, it's the top right of the track, above the green pond and heading counter-clockwise).
Alas, it was not meant to be. Checa dove to the inside of Max but was going too fast to make the turn. In a moment that's still heatbraking to watch, Checa's front tire washes out in a blink of an eye, sending his bike sprawling to the tarmac. Max, for his part, brings his bike from full left lean to nearly upright in an attempt to avoid the inevitable; Checa's scratching, sliding bike colliding with Max's, sending both into the gravel.
Both are in the gravel now as the eventual winner - surprise it's Lorenzo Lanzi! - passes. Instinctively, Checa rushes to his fallen bike, and with the help of the marshals get back on the track to finish fifth. Poor Max Neukirchner though. Collarbone broken, all he can do is watch in utter disappointment as rider after rider takes the checkered flag that was rightfully his.
Bonehead riding on Checa's part, or just a racing incident? Hard to say. But in this moment, in this photo, all that would unfold is unknown to Checa as he falls from the sky...
Monday, April 07, 2008
pedrosa jerez motos 1.JPG
Is this the scene that we'll be seeing more of this year, Dani Pedrosa on a charge, leading from the front, inch-perfect and blindingly fast? It's been a while since he's led a race like he did in Jerez, and it was a great time to get re-acquainted with his style. He's so smooth, the bike underneath him an extension of his will and as smooth as he. Running at the front is a unique challenge that Dani has met since his days racing 125s, rarely losing focus, rarely letting other riders sneak up on him. This may be part of the reason that he's not known as a fighter - he's won so much from the front that the stories of him making last turn passes for the victory are few.
Thanks to Pepemarinfoto from Flickr for this shot. Nicely framed, it shows Pedrosa on the gas as he exits the turn, on the rumble strip, looking forward. There's a good sense of action here - the leaning Suzuki and Yamaha behind and the blur from Pedrosa's hot exhaust - even as the shutter is fast enough to freeze Pedrosa's bike. The slight tilt of the Honda and Pedrosa's body language add to the sense of the moment. Thx Pepemarinfoto, well done!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Motocross
If this doesn't make you want to ride, your beyond all hope.
djwwestwood frames a rider in a pivotal moment - mid-air, focused forward, body crouched for the landing. There is so much to like about this photo! Each time I look at it I see something else. To wit:
- The slight blur of the spokes and the dust below the bike add to the suspense.
- The road is cropped perfectly to narrate the action
- The two trees in the foreground and the rider form an interesting triumvirate
- The lighting on the brush in the foreground is exqisite and balances the other elements perfectly
- Masterful use of HDR - not heavy-handed like most, just enough to make the photo. Makes the clouds really interesting, balanced by the foreground brush.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Maybe we should have brought boats...
Recently returned from the Philippines, Compact Flash cards brimming with photos. A motorcycle trip filled with images triggering vivid memories is my booty and the raw material for my next story.
Monday, March 10, 2008
__/__ Toni Elias (Yamaha) MotoGP
The 2008 MotoGP season is underway! Last night under the Arabian lights in Qatar, Casey Stoner began his title defense on the top step of the podium. It's going to be another great year in what is arguably the most exciting motosport on the planet!
Let's hope that Toni Elias comes to grips with his new bike - the Pramac D'Antin Ducati. He has such a great style - hanging completely off the bike with both cheeks! He's so light and hangs off so much that he's able to run a softer rear tire compound than his competitors.
Look at this shot - where does the man end and the machine begin? Nice framing, showing where Elias is headed. And great snap of Elias' inimitable style!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Tour De France
This has been sitting in my favorites pile for some time now. Simply a fantastic shot of man and machine working together. Big Ben in the background is icing on the cake. Wide angle, fast shutter, and stopped down aperture (f/8) yields this excellence. If I took one shot like this a year I'd be a happy man...
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Overloaded Motorcycle
In less than a month's time I'll be in the Philippines, where two wheeled transportation is a way of life. A great sense of speed in this photo, even though that tiny bike with those three passengers was probably not going very quickly LOL! Still, the mood is nice, and the light from the car behind the subjects (but off the frame to the left) adds a nice little touch.
Friday, January 25, 2008
fast perspective
When it's cold and dark in the midst of winter, photos like this help us muddle through...
The lighting makes this photo otherworldly - the high contrast, the movement from dark darks to the blown out sky. The slight blur adds the sense of motion. I want to be there.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Not In Use
Winter is not kind to two-wheeled enthusiasts. But January is nearly done, and February is the shortest of months. Quicker than we know it, Spring will be here.
A wonderfully composed and exposed photograph. The ripples in the snow (as seen in the subtle color changes) are a beautiful, delicate detail.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Motorcycle in inclination
It's January and racing is just around the corner. As with every off-season there have been a lot of changes, and racing fans around the world wait in quiet anticipation of wheels once again turning in anger.
2008 will be the last season of eternal champion and tough guy Troy Bayliss. Can he win the title in his final year on the new Ducati 1098?
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
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