checa_checking_in_VAL_SPA_08_WSBk

checa_checking_in_VAL_SPA_08_WSBk, originally uploaded by caferacerx.

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...

pedrosa jerez motos 1.JPG

pedrosa jerez motos 1.JPG, originally uploaded by pepemarinfoto.

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!