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.

Casey Stoner - World Champion

Casey Stoner atop his motorcycle in parc ferme after winning the race, and the World Championship

A quick update from last weekends MotoGP Round 16 at Phillip Island in Australia..and a simple update at that...with nothing more to say...Casey Stoner really put his stamp on the season and pulled off the race win, the championship and it was his birthday to boot...not bad going I guess.

The trip to Phillip Island was, as it always is, a lot of fun.  I know some wonderful people who visit the island over the race weekend that it almost feel like a family gathering.  So thank you to all who made my visit most enjoyable. Also a big thank you again to those who attended my first seminar and to Paul Stafford of Spice Island for being able to host it.

Images from Phillip Island and previous rounds are online in my AutoMotoPhoto MotoGP Photography searchable archive.

Next up, images and tales from Malaysia....where I am penning this update.

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.

I'm still here in MotoGP! Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Spies, Stoner are too!

Since March and my last update, we've had wins by Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, Casey Stoner and Ben Spies!

Cadiz

That said, I suppose you could call this an update, a recap, or perhaps an admission that I've neglected this blog or as of today I finally realised that I have gotten to the end of July and I'm still covering MotoGP.....something that at the beginning of 2011 wasn't looking too promising. It's still not as financially lucrative as I'd like and by no means perfect, but I do believe in looking forward, being optimistic and for me, I feel I still have a lot more to tell about this sport, the people, the travel and of course, the food...this update isn't going to be a long winded philosophical waffle about nothing, I'm simply going to fast forward through the past four months of racing, race travel and location/lifestyle..and I'm going to really, really try to at least make a concerted effort over the upcoming race weeks and races that I attend to add at least something that doesn't exist on the Andrew Wheeler-AutoMotoPhoto facebook page, but do feel free to sign up and join in the fun.

Since March, I have traveled to Spain (twice), Portugal, UK and Italy. In an attempt to balance work/life, I skipped Assen in Holland (much to my chagrin as Ben Spies won) and the Sachsenring in Germany. The most recent race at Laguna Seca is a home race. It's so close to home I can sleep in my own bed each evening and is always a good weekend.

Jerez in Spain is one of my favourite places to visit for a race weekend. It is also considered the "first MotoGP race" as it's the first race on European soil. Qatar always feels somewhat like an exhibition race, or rather a novelty event and even though I enjoy going there, it's nice to arrive back in Europe. Jerez is beautiful city, wonderful people and the climate is perfect. Warm days, warm evenings and vibrant. Aside from a little run in with the Guardia Civil following an errant u-turn, and then cop thinking we were going to do a runner (which was sort of ridiculous considering both David Emmett (of Motomatters.com) and I had our Dorna passes and our parking banner visible in the car) that little indiscretion cost me €100 and about 40 minutes of standing around on a roundabout about 5km from the track. The weekend wasn't as warm as it had been in the past and we had rain on race day. Cold rain, which is becoming a "feature" of a race weekend.

Jorge Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo would go onto to win the MotoGP race. Many of the fans in attendance came to get their first glimpse of Valentino Rossi on the Ducati...but his fans are going to have to find some resolve and patience as the year rolls on.

Valentino Rossi

..With the massive earthquake in Japan causing the postponement of the race at Motegi, Dani Pedrosa would head back to hospital to fix a previous "fix" that was causing some issues as it would be almost a month until the next race in Estoril. I would head back to California.

Time travel is great. Back to Portugal for the race at Estoril a month later. I'm always tickled by the variety of rental cars I end up with on these junkets. I only ever rent from Hertz. I've had Mercedes, Volvo's, BMW's, Lancia's and Audi's. So this upgrade was a new Mini Clubman estate! After a last minute suggestion of "why don't you join me for the race weekend" I was joined by Canadian motorcycle racer Vicki Schouten. It's nice having some company when I'm away from home. We spend a day just whizzing around in the Mini and we end up visiting the castles at Sintra.

Castelo dos Mouros

There is a Moorish castle (Castelo dos Mouros) on one outcrop of rock, and on the opposing outcrop of rock the Pena National Palace....so we did a good hike around the old remains (until lightning and an approaching thunderstorm made us think twice about being so exposed...) and then took a swift drive of about 500m to the Pena National Palace and had a nice afternoons walk around this funky looking castle.

Pena National Palace

Again the weather played it's part in the weekend. Dani Pedrosa returns to the "pack" and is swamped by journalists asking, no, pestering him about his fixed collarbone and to whether or not he'll be fit enough to race over the weekend. What's even funnier is that I have been working with Don Emde and Parts Unlimited Europe and we decide to put together a feature on Dani Pedrosa for an upcoming magazine that Don edits. I decide to take a different approach with the interview and simply go with asking Dani about himself, the words and pictures can be viewed here. What was really cool was that Dani would go onto win the race at Estoril. Saving himself for a last gasp pass on Jorge Lorenzo. Never under estimate how these chaps deal with pain!

Dani Pedrosa

.I would not go to Le Mans due to a number of reasons. Mainly because I wanted to have some time at home with Emily, but time does fly again, and it's back to Barcelona and the race at Montmelo!

Segrada Familia

I love this town. With my good friend Bonnie Lane, and my super cool amigo, and talented Catalan Abel Cruz Ayuso we go looking for dongles, we spend the day after the race weekend having a diggy diggy moment driving around Barcelona, which only added to another wonderful race weekend at another favourite track of mine!

Montmelo

Not the most exciting of races but nonetheless, always some entertainment but for me, the track is loaded with photo opportunities and colour. It's a track where a scooter is handy, especially for race days. But it's also a track where walking can produce some exciting images as well

Casey Stoner

But for me this weekend was even more exciting as it would be the first time that Ben Spies would get onto the podium.

Ben Spies

So for me, and the fact that I have followed him through the AMA, WSBK and now MotoGP it was a good thing to see. I also know how happy it made "Maio", Tom, Woody, Gavin and the entire team happy as well it was onto Silverstone. Personally, I wish that Catalunya had come after Silverstone as I prefer to leave from Spain vs leaving from the UK..but there you. Silverstone wasn't the happy trip I usually have as my mother was moved from the UK to France just before I arrived, which in part was the only reason I would visit the UK, otherwise I would've skipped this race and gone to Assen instead..but there you you.

Country Cottage

That said the week was good, the company was excellent as I shared this house with Bonnie Lane, her hoosbund Chris and their friend Tim (who I had met on a previous trip to the UK). So it did turn out to be a good week, even if I was a little gloomy and cranky but of course, the weekend would turn out to be wet aside from the Saturday....

Jorge Lorenzo

It's funny how one's moods affect how one sees things. i really did feel cranky, gloomy whatever. In part because it's the one trip a year I have the chance to see my mum and that didn't happen. It costs enough as it is to travel to cover these events from the other side of the globe vs how my peers cover the races with a hop skip and a jump from a European airport. So it's a good thing when I can get to do things such as visiting my Mum which is nigh on impossible to accommodate and include it as a business trip any other time of the year.

Herve Poncheral - Colin Edwards

Race day was miserable. Wet, cold..wet and cold..windy. But for me the man of the match, or of the race was Colin Edwards. Being yet another victim of the now trendy "Broken Collarbone Club" along with Pedrosa and with fellow Tech3 rider Cal Crutchlow buying his membership the day before during an off, he stuck it out and finished third.

Casey Stoner

Casey Stoner won the race, but for me Colin won the weekend. We won't go into too much chatter about my non attendance at Assen. Factor in the fact that my trip to the UK didn't go as usually planned, and then Ben Spies ended up WINNING his first MotoGP race and I wasn't there to witness it. If I had skipped Silverstone and had plumped for Assen I'd have witnessed it. Instead, I simply sat on the sofa next to my wife and was miserable all day Sunday. Happy for Ben though, but felt sorry for myself as a result. Oh well, as they say. That's racing. Next. Italy and the madness that is Mugello.

Tuscany

This was the view from our little villa in a tiny village near Corella in the Tuscan hills. 2200' above sea level and a nice 25 minute drive to the track. The owners were wonderful, the house was superbly comfortable and even though we (David Emmett and I) had some fun and games with the Internet our hosts were extremely helpful in trying to find a solution for us. So much so, Emily and I are going to head back there next year and have a holiday after the race weekend. Oh, and speaking of race weekends, this is one of the craziest on the calendar. Close to Bologna, (about an hours drive) and only 30 minutes or so from Florence.

Duomo - Florence

The racetrack is located in some of the most beautiful countryside on the planet. It is also home to some of the finest FOOD on the planet

Butchers - Bologna

...and of course home to one of the finest motorcycles on the planet...can I add any more planets? It's why it's worth working hard to try and include some of this magnificent landscape into the race images for example..

Valentino Rossi

It's also another track that can pay you dividends in just simply walking vs having a scooter. I would like to add that on race days a scooter is pretty much essential and so when I'm not able to obtain one (for example, Maio Meregalli, who is the race team manager for the Factory Yamaha team, is always kind enough to see if there is a way for me to borrow a scooter, but at Mugello, with an Italian based race team and Italian sponsors/guests to keep happy makes it nigh on impossible for me to be allowed to have one) I am grateful for Andrew Northcott and his kindness in shuttling me around the track for the GP race..other than that, it's a great track to walk. As is now a tradition on each Saturday morning at Mugello. Valentino Rossi showcases a new "paintjob" that is done specifically for this race. Last year the helmet didn't really get much of a showing because it was here where he had a huge crash and broke his leg. This year, was pretty much dram free and it was the "evil eye" helmet that made an appearance.

Valentino Rossi

We had the obligatory rain over the weekend but the Sunday was lovely and aside from Jorge Lorenzo winning the what was to be a good race for him, it was local lad Andrea Dovizioso who also put on a good show and came in second with Honda rider Casey Stone coming third

Andrea Dovizioso

No Valentino Rossi on the podium, so the madness was a little more subdued until he decided to come out and visit the crowds. Speaking of crowds. You do not want to get stuck within these crowds...hot sweaty people doing daft things with scooters, motorcycles and fireworks. Plus there is the claustrophobia aspect of it all, and yes, I got stuck in this crowd, but after 20 minutes or so of working my way out through the crowd I was able to make it into the media centre and snag this picture of Rossi (in the open space area) heading back from his crowd visit)

Fans

. Monday would be spent packing up and having another little drive around the countryside following a trip back to Bologna to drop of David Emmett. Tuesday morning it would be back on a plane to spend the night in Amsterdam with Gavin and his fiance Floortje..a nice dinner at a funky restaurant near their apartment

Vegas!

The following day it was back on a plane, back home. I would skip the MotoGP race at Sachsenring and plump for some decent time at home with my wife, and with MotoGP being at Laguna Seca that would mean a nice long break at home.

Tom

Laguna Seca is always a fun race weekend. Thursdays are a great day to meet folk as it's "laid back day" and there are many promotional images being shot on the pitlane.

Factory Yamaha Team

I get a chance to spend time with Emily at home, I also get the opportunity to catch up with many of the fine people who work within the AMA where I started out. I'm glad I started my motorcycle and motorsport photography within the AMA verses simply going straight to MotoGP or World Superbike as it allowed me to be able to create images at race tracks that aren't all as pretty or as photogenic as many of the race tracks on the GP circuit. If anyone is thinking of starting out in the business, I'd say shoot the national series first before trying to make it in the GP world. You'll not only develop a greater understanding of your subject, but you'll develop the ability to be able to deal with less than perfect vistas...I mean, I'd like to think even I can make Fontana look pretty!

Gorls

The weekend went well for me, aside from a small scooter mix up the weekend was warm once the fog burned off, the crowds were rather large especially on race day and of course Casey Stoner won again.

Casey Stoner

Following a huge highside on Saturday Jorge Lorenzo not only took pole but finished a healthy second. Dani Pedrosa took third.

Dani Pedrosa

I'd also like to say a huge thank you to Nic Coury at the Monterey County Weekly. A few weeks prior he interviewed me for the paper and the feature was published on the Thursday of race week. The online version of the interview can be viewed here and the in print version looked like this...

"in print" pdf version

Well, that's it for this update (or rather story...)..and so I will try to keep this a little more current that it has been for the past four months. I leave you all for now with this shot of a group of people who came to the "Great Laguna Seca Meetup" on the Saturday evening. This was the highlight of my weekend as it's so nice to put a face to a name. Thank you to all...until the next one at Brno perhaps?

Friends

Ciao for now!