Andrew Wheeler, AutoMotoPhoto and MotoGP. Part3 Catching Up.

Some of you who are "Likers" on the Andrew Wheeler - AutoMotoPhoto page here on Facebook would have seen or viewed the individual rider galleries I put together to keep us warm and interested over those cold winter nights...(doesn't that sound all squishy warm and fuzzy?)

Well, I figured that not everyone is on Facebook, and so they're worth sharing here.  I'll most likely be adding a few more to the Facebook page between now and Qatar just to get people in the mood for the new season, but in the interim here are the galleries.  To search or view nearly 20K images from the AMA, World Superbike and MotoGP you can also visit my archive and create your own lightbox, search for any rider..you name it, you can almost do it all.

Except download.  For that you'll have to pay me!  =)

Starting off this collection of slideshows is the 2011 MotoGP World Champion, Casey Stoner...

Not forgetting that man in yellow...Mr 46 himself.  Valentino Rossi...

Then we went to take a look back over Ben Spies' 2011 in MotoGP.....

The talented and charming factory Ducati rider Nicky Hayden....

The rather talented Alvaro Bautista aboard the factory Rizla Suzuki in it's last year of MotoGP (for now).  They'll be missed this year. But Alvaro did a great job, as did the team....

...and by coincidence here follows a little something from the waaay back machine when the current AMA champion Ben Spies tested at Indianapolis for the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP team..

All the galleries and the images contained can be shared on FB or on Twitter, as can the galleries so don't hold back.  Feel free to share.  Also, prints can be purchased.  Just send me an email if there's something that grabs you...more to come...!

Andrew Wheeler, AutoMotoPhoto and MotoGP. Part2 Catching Up.

Casey Stoner MotoGP Wold Champion Valencia 2011

Over 105 motorcycling events (and some retro car images from CART and F1) are now contained within the cyber-walls of my now up-to-date website, AutoMotoPhoto.  Possibly one of the largest publicly accessible collection of motorcycle racing images on the web.  Covering more than a handful of races from all three major racing series that I have been fortunate enough to cover including, AMA, World Superbike (WSBK) and of course MotoGP.  I typically like to up date the last few races of the year in the following year as it gives everyone something to look at during the quiet periods we all face, as well as it gives me a little time to reflect on what I have covered and to see how I can improve for the upcoming season.

Fortunately I have been accredited for a hard card for the 2012 season in MotoGP and as always am extremely grateful for the acceptance. It doesn't come easy.  But I am grateful to every outlet, magazine and editor that chooses my work to enhance their publications.

Okay....more updates to come.  I have to nip out.

MotoGP - 2011 Season In Pictures - AutoMotoPhoto

Happy New Year!

I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who views my blog, follows my ramblings on Twitter @automotophoto  or is a "Liker" on my Facebook page at "Andrew Wheeler-AutoMotoPhoto"...

2011 MOTOGP SEASON AUTOMOTOPHOTO REVIEW - Images by Andrew Wheeler | AutoMotoPhoto

I was going to go on and on about Valencia, the last round of the 2011 season but have since decided that the best way to summarize the year would be to put together the mother of all slideshows. Starting with round 1 in Qatar and ending up with the  final round 18 in Valencia.  You'll see a selection of images from each round that I covered (14/18) that hopefully will tell a story.  Maybe it's more like a novel.  It should hopefully keep you going until at least the season opener at the beginning of April!

If you wish to view the slideshow full screen simply click on the little "expand" button that sits next to "Share" and of couse, should you wish to share feel free to do so. I will let the slide show tell the story as for me, it was a wonderful year tinged with sadness.  2012 hasn't started off in the best of ways, but we'll see what happens and there will be updates as we go forward.

Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner...from Misano to Aragon. The Renaissance, castles and the countryside...

Valentino Rossi at his "home" race wearing his special liveried Misano special helmet

I love castles.

Gradara

So it's rather interesting that we go from the Adriatic and the home of Lucrezia Borgia (and all that lovely warmth and kindness as the perfect dinner host she was) to Aragon, where the two regions are actually loosely connected by families marrying one off to the other.  I love this region of Italy, the coastline that becomes extremely dramatic not too far inland with huge outcrops of rocks topped with castles.

Urbino

Last years trip to Misano started out tinged with sadness  of the loss during the race weekend prior at Indianapolis. Little did we know that the race weekend at Misanowould also end in sadness (see the previous blog entry).  Fortunately, this years events ended with no tragedies but with an excellent showing of racecraft by Jorge Lorenzo...

Jorge Lorenzo and his crew celebrate his crossing the finish line

A side trip was in order to Valentino Rossi's village, Tavulia, although the mood in the village did seem a little a little quieter than last.  

Valentino Rossi's hometown

The banner that shows his 100 victories has faded somewhat, but in many of the windows as before, there are cardboard cutouts of the maestro himself watching over the visitors.  One thing that was different from last year was the video booth.  This appeared so as fans visiting to send Valentino a personal message if support.  

the VR46 video box in Tavulia

Gone was the life-size cardboard Yamaha team cutout and garage that was very popular with folks who wanted to have a picture of themselves taken with whoever works in the garage.  Maybe next year there'll be a Ducati version.

This year I stayed at a fabulous little flat in the city of Cattolica with Ben Spies Fan Club creators Luca Ottolini and his fabulous wife Chiara.  We had a great week of good food, laughter, Jesus ducks and of course being less than 3 minutes from a gelateria, gelato.

The fan club!

Lots of gelato....thanks again to Simone for being such a help in having the apartment for us....looks like next year we're all set for Misano too!

Ben Spies rounds turn 9 at Misano

With that, it was back home for a few days before heading off (again) to Barcelona for the Motorland Aragon experience!  Arriving late into Barcelona it was then a solid 2-3hour drive to the lovely little village of Beceite. 

Beceite, Teruel

I stayed here last year and we loved it so much not only did we come back, but we rented the entire building to avoid the racket we suffered at the hands of a rather large group of excitable motorcyclists who were upstairs.  

Base camp Beceite!

This year, I shared the upstairs apartment with Andrew Northcott, Jules Cisek and his wife Bernadette.  Mr Motomatters, David Emmett, Jarno from Holland, Abraham (from Spain) and his friend occupied the floor we stayed on last year.That meant we had normality and tranquility upon our return from a busy day at the track.

Quite the dramatic scenery commute to work...

As before the drive to the track winds through some seriously spectacular scenery.  Jules Cisek ran his Go-Pro during one of our morning drives and hopefully, when he has edited the footage, we'll have something to share here...we'll just back track a bit.

Motorland Aragon race day

Motorland Aragon, as I explained last year, is out in the middle of nowhere, not far from the town of Alcaniz, which is also, out in the middle of nowhere.  That said, this area is chock full of history, especially related to The Renaissance, the invasions by the Moors, and long before that, the Romans and Greek.  Evidence in the forms of minarets, aqueducts and castles show the various cultural influences in the area.  It is well worth visit and a stay.

Tortosa

Race weekend came, sadly Friday was a morning only job.  A local transformer blew up and caught fire and that killed the power to the race track.  In the afternoon, because there was no timing and scoring, or power for anything it was decided to abandon the afternoons sessions.  Personally I felt the riders could've gone out and done some fan laps on scooters because there were an awful to of very disappointed fans in the stands who'd stuck out the heat and winds waiting for something to happen.  

The Great Wall of Aragon - dramatic and the perfect backdrop

But that's me I guess.  Someone was so miffed off that they threw their sandwich at ME!!  I thought that was funny, but still.  I do feel something should be on hand for moments like this.  After all, this is all about entertainment IMO.

Hayden rounding the mini-corkscrew

Race day rolls around, the factory Honda's roll out a rather interesting race day livery in some shocking orange colour (which initially I wasn't too keen on - but it looked good in photos).  

MotoGP Aragon race winner Casey Stoner

The race wasn't exactly earth shattering, and Casey Stoner didn't surprise anyone by winning...with Aragon in the bag, it was back to the house.

A cava moment with Casey Stoner

With my flights to Barcelona that would take me to Amsterdam leaving on Tuesday afternoon, I had all day Monday to futz around and take it easy.  So, I left the house about 1pm and drove over a huge range of mountains to coast and the seaside town of Peñíscola.  It was just a zip trip to snag some photos of the castle on the Mediterranean (and I was reliably informed that this was the location for the making of the film El Cid by David Emmett) and so with some images captured I took the long route back to the house.  

The castle at Peniscola

Returning in time to finish up dinner and celebrate Jules and Bernadettes wedding anniversary.  Which was a rather nice way to cap off a wonderful week in the Spanish interior.

The view from room 503 at CitizenM

Tuesday, I would drive to airport.  Eventually find my good friend Abel, have lunch, board my flight to Amsterdam and then spend a nice evening in my favourite hip-hotel at Schipol, CitizenM. The next day it would be an easy walk to the airport and eventually home.

Padron peppers - happy anniversary to Jules and Bernadette

Next up, Australia, Malaysia...but for now, I am enjoying my time at home.

Indianapolis, Spies, Stoner, Rossi, AC and the flu

It was hot.

Casey Stoner

I thought the flu would be done and gone by the time the trip to Indy rolled around.  I guess I was wrong.  In fact the flu I contracted during the weekend at Brno, simply got worse.  The high temperatures and never ending air conditioning (AC) everywhere only served to cause me to think that I had actually spent my whole life working in a mine and had gone down with emphysema.  Every time I started to cough it never stopped, and never stopped, and never stopped and then only finally stopped when my lungs had completely expelled all the air contained within and I was dizzy from lack of oxygen. Fortunately for me Bob Starr at Yamaha had very kindly arranged for me to have a scooter.

Dani Pedrosa coming at me during the first lap

This was the first time in as long as I could remember that Emily would not be joining me for the race weekend due to school and work obligations.  So this would be the trip where I would not get to see her in over two weeks.  Something that does not fill me with joy.  However, I would spend the weekend with a good friend Nic Coury who is a journalist at the Monterey County Weekly.  So the company was more than welcome, and also it does help keep the costs down by being able to split the cost of food, accommodations and transportation.

Colin Edwards

I may have mentioned it somewhere else before, but Indy is a very challenging location to shoot racing.  The lack of service roads, having to negotiate crowds whilst on a scooter and lack of locations to shoot the track from can make for rather repetitive imagery. So there's a need to really test ones creative skills when working there.  

Gorls

So the weekend was hot.  The surface of infield section of the track had been repaved and was subsequently rather greasy for the riders.  The weather being so hot made me almost wish for the rain we had the year before, only because it adds another dimension to the imagery, and it does make life a little more tolerable, even if one has to deal with wet weather gear, protective covers and the lack of convenience that dry weather allows.  

Simoncelli

Once again all eyes were on Ben Spies, but also on Hayden and the other American Colin Edwards. This is the second home race of the season and as we remember, both Hayden and Spies have done well here in the past.  Did I mention it was hot over the weekend?  One thing you always forget about when you visit this huge concrete and steel structures is the residual heat that is reradiated back up from the concrete.

Tom, Greg and Ben, parc ferme

But it would turn out to be a weekend that neither Nicky Hayden or Valentino Rossi will want to remember...especially when it came to race day.....

Valentino Rossi

As I mentioned above, good friend Nic Coury was joining me for the weekend and was having a blast.  having never seen all three classes at one race (Laguna only has the GP class) it was a firs for him.  But boy howdy did that guy not need a scooter.  He walked everywhere and I was suitably impressed by the energy output!  Plus, he captured some really different images.Race day came, and even though it was dominated by Casey Stoner, with Dani Pedrosa coming in second, it was good to see Ben made it to the podium again for his home race.

The Pagoda and pitlane, race day morning

After getting up at 4am to run Nic to the airport for his trip back to California, I went back to the hotel, back to bed for a couple of hours and then packed up the car, headed to the airport and left for Italy and the next round from Misano on the Adriatic which is where I am writing this from now.

Italian country spicy sausage and vegetable soup, Indy style

However, even though I wasn't feeling too chipper, I still managed to crank out some fine dinners for us over the weekend in Indianapolis...however, I might just add, the blueberry bagels do not go too well with a country style sausage and vegetable soup, but they worked somewhat.  

Thanks for reading..

MotoGP is back! Stoner flies and Brno gets some colour...

Pretty.

When I first came to Brno, the apartment blocks you see in the distance were grey. Each time I visit some more of the apartment blocks have been painted, the colour just beams out during sunset as the suns' rays hit their structures. For me I love this view....at the end of this entry, you'll see an early morning sunrise over the same...

Saturday morning, damn track and some overambitious braking caused this little moment. He was unhurt, but the skill is in the eyes. Note; that as much as the bike has left its designed position (upright) he is still focussed on the upcoming left hander. Quite amazing, and even as the bike hits the ground, the next shot shows how he continues to look through he corner....

This was my fourth trip back to the Czech Republic for MotoGP. Each year it gets better and better. I stay in the same lovely apartment in a village just on the edge of Brno, near where the old GP track used to run. It's a short drive to the track, it's peaceful at night and the folks that own the property are simply the kindest, even going so far as to ask if we needed anything washed (Andrew Northcott shares with me here).

I arrived into Prague on the Tuesday, and after the two-hour drive to Brno, I get settled in and go food shopping (as I do everywhere). Come back, make dinner, chat with Emily and head off to bed. The next day I would take a trip to a castle boskovického hradu), similar to what I did a couple of years ago. It's a nice drive through the countryside and small villages with pastel coloured pointy roof houses, whilst watching out for the rather exuberant Czech driver (I have a Opel Astra diesel which isn't sluggish - but I'm determined to not draw the attention of the local police on this trip...plus I'm in no hurry).

The castle at boskovického hradu is privately owned and is a little "rusty" but after a nice stroll up a 1 in 4 hill the view is worth it...however, i decided to not stay too long as is this case in this region, thunder storms brew up pretty fast, and with that comes lightning. Even you regular homes have lightning conductors all over the roof as the storm they get around here can be extremely violent... 

By Thursday I had started feeling somewhat ropy, and as it would turn out by race day I had a full-blown flu. Ugh. Fortunately getting around this huge track, and it is huge, wasn't too bad as I had wheels. Friday the weather was okay, not too hot, but Saturday, as we expected we ended up having rain, however, it blew through and so qualifying wasn't going to be a wet event.

During the morning, and with a rather greasy and wet track it caught a few people out. Sadly, John Hopkins, who had a good Friday practice, would dump his bike in the same spot as Casey Stoner but would fare as well, breaking three fingers and putting him out of contention for Saturday afternoons qualifying. Which, considering his return to racing and taking things a little more seriously, has been impressive. So many people were hoping good things for him from this weekend.

Race day arrives, with Dani Pedrosa on pole, Jorge Lorenzo second on the front row with Casey taking up third spot. Ben Spies being fourth.

Sadly the race would go Dani's way and Jorge had front tyre issues. Ben, suffering a pinched nerve in his necked valiantly battled to fifth.

Marco Simoncelli would come out of the weekend by being the talk of race by actually getting on the podium, and not by race track antics and was obviously very pleased with his efforts.

Sunday, race weekend done and dusted some would leave to head home, and a few would remain for the tests that were scheduled for the Monday. Even though I wasn't feeling too chipper, there's something rather nice about not having any pressure to shoot and get a narrative of a race weekend when it comes to testing. So I simply took it easy and took pictures from places I had yet to discover or use from around the track. Being that I was leaving around 1 or 2pm to head back to my overnight hotel in Prague, I decided that I'd just shoot track.

So initially there were the old 800's running around, and then Ben popped out on his black clad Yamaha M1 2012 1000, Rossi and Hayden were runnign around still working on bits and bobs for the Ducati and Mika Kallio was out on the CRT Suter Marc VDS BMW powered MotoGP machine (which looked and sounded rather good) and the Jorge arrived on his black clad Yamaha M1 1000. The Honda's were out runnign around but in reality, there really wasn't any visual clues as to how different they were from their old 800 models.

So that was pretty much it. I stayed at the Monastery Hotel in Prague, as I do every trip prior to the trip home from the airport, had a lovely stay. Ate in the brewery next door and went to bed happy. Still not feeling that good, but knowing I was going home. Which is always a good thing.

Sadly the next couple of weeks are going to be a little testing. Indianapolis is next, then I fly on to Bologna for the MotoGP at Misano. Hopefully the races will not be as tragic as last years at either event. Then home for a few days before leaving for Spain yet again. I love my wife Emily. I miss her so much when I travel.