Fontana - From Orange Cones to White Snow Capped Mountains

It's rare, but when you see it, or "them", to some degree they offsets the relative "industrial" feel of Fontana. The Speedway is built on the land once occupied by the Kaiser Steel Works. Thus, it is flat, surrounded by heavy industry and truck stops. Fontana is not Yosemite. It doesn't have the organic and natural ambiance of a racetrack such as Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham in Alabama. But, when the wind has some force behind it (which it did on Tuesday) and it's cold, and following the recent storms and the cool weather that caused snow to drop sometimes below 1500 feet, the San Gabriel Mountains that overshadow the entire valley can add a little moment of beauty. But hold onto that mental snapshot, because in a few months, the smog will make sure they hide for the rest of the year. Here's a shot of our man Neil Hodgson, surrounded by billboards, wire fencing, oranage cones and over shadowed by the snow capped mountains reminding us that nature is still here....More to come..must edit and do some puppy training...

17 Years Today - Another Cover - Aaron Yates RRX

That's right readers.

17 years ago today I arrived at SFO in the USA with 5 suitcases (one half of one was used to bring me home from hospital after I was born), a collection of "Q" magazines, my favourite teddy bear and a few items that meant a lot to me as I grew up back in the UK before meeting Emily, getting married and moving here. All I can say is, I have never stopped realising what a blast my life is. I have as a mate, the coolest woman in the world, the coolest job in the world, and ultimately the coolest life in the world and someone to share it all with. It's not been without some hard work mind you, but so far it's only getting better.

Oh, and I thought I should let folks know that they need to rush out and buy the current edition of Road Racer X featuring Jordan Suzuki rider Aaron Yates on the cover taken by yours truly, Andrew Wheeler. I'll update my thoughts on Road Atlanta in a separate post, however, for now I'd also like to congratulate Erion Honda rider, and good friend Josh Hayes on his second Formula Extreme Championship win that he locked in at Road Atlanta. Fortunately I was in the the right place at the right time to capture this little gem.

AMA Superbikes in Ohio - (Almost) Night Racing

Good afternoon...

I got caught out by being busy and so I apolgise for not updating this before I left for Virginia. TIme seems to be at a premium the week before I head off to my next destination. Anyways, Mid Ohio was certainly entertaining. As is always the case, rain made an appearance, plus I got trapped in the elevator for 20 minutes. All good fun. However, the highlight of the weekend was the start of Sunday's Superbike race. After much track drying, an almost street party like atmosphere on the pit lane (it's very unusual to see all the teams and riders in one place at one time). Most were just sitting on the armco, some were watching the track drying efforts, and in general the atmosphere felt pretty good. Then it was time to go racing. 6.30pm rolled around and the big boy's hit the track for their warm up. 15 minutes later the warm up was over, then a 10 minute break, and we're racing. No grid girls, no pomp and circumstance and a hurried National Anthem was sung and it was green for go....

That race in the bag and now it was 7.35pm and the Supersport boys are heading out for their warm up. Now the light is seriously fading. Even my flash is beginning to actually light up the night...The warm up session over, Morgan (Broadhead - AMA Race Director) is going to each rider asking them their opinion on racing. Chaz Davies (Celtic Racing #157 - who was on pole) is asked how he feels about the light, and even with a dark tinted visor he's ready to go racing. However, a large group of riders is forming and much to the disappointment of Chaz Davies it is decided to call it day (or night)..

Oddly enough, as that decision is made, the generators kick in and track and paddock lights burst into life. Time for bed said Zebedee...

Next post - VIR (Virginia International Raceway)