Derek Clegg Photography

The 2009 Isle of Man TT races have been and gone and what a brilliant Two weeks of high speed action it was. Almost unbroken sunshine for the fortnight saw the competitors get quicker and quicker with lap and race records getting broken.

The Isle of Man TT Mountain Circuit at just shy of Thirty Eight miles in length offers many a challenge for the photographer not least those pesky midges that like nothing more better than to bite unprotected Human Flesh! The lower reaches of the circuit is lined with Trees and shrubbery which blocks a lot of the available ambient light and casts huge dark shadows across the road. But these large dark shadows also scream out to the viewer that this type of shot could only have been shot at one circuit in the World, the World famous Isle of Man TT Mountain Circuit.

The below image was shot captured during one of the evening practice sessions, had I photographed at this location for one of the races (all races take place during work hours) the image would have had a very different mood to it as the Sun would have been coming from a vastly differing angle.

1/1250th f4.5 Nikon 70-200mm. Photo © Derek Clegg

Motorcycle racing on purpose built race circuits is an exciting spectacle but it lacks the real buzz of a pure road race, not least because spectators are pushed so far back from the edge of the track in the name of Health and Safety. Go to a pure road race and it is still possible to get right up close to the action where you can actually feel the wind blast as the race bikes pass your location at high speed (or even pebble dash you with grit and small stones).

Carl Rennie in high speed action at the 2009 Isle of Man TT races. Photo © Derek Clegg

Do not think for a minute that the sport of Motorcycle racing is the sole preserve of ‘the hairy arsed biker‘ clad in Leather, because if you do think that, you are badly mistaken as there are numerous female competitors within the sport. One such member of the fairer sex competing at the 2009 Isle of Man TT races was Jenny Tinmouth, and despite Jenny being a debutant she finished the TT fortnight as the fastest ever female competitor around the Mountain circuit.

1/250th f8 Nikon 70-200mm. Photo © Derek Clegg

I have a love hate relationship with the TT, it is a brilliant (but tiring) event not helped by the extortionate costs involved in getting there or the poor schedule of Ferry crossings, but despite the expense and the hassle of it all I am as addicted now as when I first visited many years ago. Roll on TT 2010!

The latest issue of Irish Racer magazine very recently hit the newsagents shelves just in time for the start of the 2009 Isle of Man TT races festival. This issue I have nine of my images published.

Nikon D300 17-55mm f2.8

So the North West 200 has come and gone for another year and this year you would be hard-pressed to find many people singing its praises.

I am not a great fan of this particular race as alluded to in a previous blog posting, for me it is a labour of love and I only cover it to assist the Careva publishing team. True the fickle Irish climate (and accidents) played its part in this years disaster of a race meeting, but this year more than any other the race going fan has had their eyes opened to how commercialism takes preference to the actual racing.

This is in no way a personal attack on Mervynne Whyte or the Coleraine Club, rather it is an appeal to the club to get back to basics and put the racing back somewhere near the top of the priority list. The race fans, many of whom travelled across from England, Scotland, France etc don’t spend all that money and take time off work to watch countless Cars and Vans (complete with advertising logos) circulating the race track. Give them the well run race meeting that they expect, don’t charge them £8.00 to stand ankle deep in a muddy field and definitely do not obstruct their view with six foot high metal fences cos they can get that at Donnington Park, Brands Hatch etc!

What racing we did see was excellent with some great battles right through the field. One thing that struck me though was that John McGuinness was riding extremely defensively trying to stay out of trouble with the Isle of Man TT rapidly approaching. John has nothing to prove in racing and has seen many a competitor lose his life to the sport so it is to John’s credit that whilst riding so defensively he was still able to come away with some very good results and I reckon come the TT he will again be one of if not the single competitor that all the others will have to beat if they wish to stand on the top step of the podium.

Issue 84 of Irish Racer Magazine is in the shops now just in time for the North West 200 races this weekend. As usual its another excellent production from the team at Careva Publishing and I have a dozen of my Photographs published in this issue.

As well as the latest issue of Irish Racer, Careva Publishing also produce the Race Programme for the North West 200 race and again I have a few photographs published within its pages.

Below are a handful of my favourite photographs that I have taken in the early part of the 2009 racing season.

The 2009 Road Racing season has well and truly begun with favourable weather conditions and cracking racing at the opening Two Road races the Cookstown and Tandragee. Now with the first of the ‘big Three international races’ (four this year with Kells upgraded to International status) upon us attention and media coverage will obviously now turn to the North West 200. It is hailed as Ireland’s biggest and best sport event but it has very much become a victim of its own success.

The North West has just grown too big, there are too many people who go to ’see’ it who have no interest in bike racing and with their drunken antics it is inevitable that they spoil the enjoyment of the event for the genuine race fans. Untop of that each year there are more and more restrictions placed on where bona fide press Photographers can work from despite the fact they (the Photographers) provide some excellent publicity material every year.

As a result the North West is way down on my list of favourite race events to cover for the magazine. I would argue debate with anyone that there are much better race circuits (e.g. TT mountain circuit, Dundrod, Tandragee) and there are much better race events (TT, Dundrod, Kells, Tandragee). For me the North West has become a labour of love, with very little enjoyment to be had but thanfully in a few short weeks the Isle of Man TT races will commence and I for one can not wait to cross the Irish Sea for this year the entry list for the TT is excellent with strength in depth in all classes. But I’ll put my neck on the line and tip Australian Cameron Donald to really excel this year……………..providing lady luck and the Manx Fairies do not intervene!

Because a blog post is always better with a photograph or Two, here is a couple of my images from the opening Two road races of this season.

1/1000th f3.5 300mm

1/1000th f5.6 200mm

Kirk Jamison a local racer is sponsored his protective Leather race suits and Crash Helmets by RST and XLITE in a deal brokered by Careva Publishing. Kirk and I recently got together after a race meeting to do a quick photoshoot to capture some images that Kirk could send out to his sponsors as a thank you.

I deliberately delayed Kirk until ‘the Golden Hour‘ before starting the shoot so that I could take advantage of the lovely warm light from the setting sun (a rareity here in Ireland!)

1/200th f13 50mm f1.8

1/200th f10 50mm f1.8

For the above shots I used a Nikon D300 camera body, Nikon 50mm f1.8 lens, Nikon SU800 Infra-red flash controller and three Nikon flash guns.

Issue #83 of Irish Racer magazine has recently hit the shelves and I had five of my Photographs published.

One motorbike racer who took me up on my free sponsors portfolio photo shoot was James ‘Jammers’ Upton. Jammers was only too happy to pose for the camera.

We waited until after racing had been completed and luckily the weather ‘played ball’ and gave us a nice late evening sunset to assist us to create some really cracking images.

1/250th f9

For the above shot I used three Nikon flash guns (2 x SB900 and 1 x SB800) and controlled them remotely from my Nikon D300 camera with Nikon’s excellent SU800 infra red flash controller.

A short while back Doc John Hinds of the Motorcycle Union of Ireland medical team appealed to photographers attending the new race license holders training seminars, at Kirkistown race circuit, to capture a few photographs of his Honda Fireblade for possible publication in an upcoming issue of Performance Bikes magazine.

Never one to miss an opportunity I hastily arranged a quick shoot with John’s bike at the end of the days on-track tuition. I used a couple of Nikon SB800 flashes and the Nikon SU800 flash controller, and came away with some great images, which I then emailed to John to forward to the magazine.

Happily the magazine’s contributing editor Kar Lee was suitably impressed with the photos and has published one of them in the May issue of Performance Bikes, in shops now!