Posted by Cleggy on Aug 15, 2010 in
Bike Racing
The historic Dundrod Race circuit in the County Antrim Hills proved once again that it is beyond doubt the best Race circuit in Ireland serving up close and fast racing.
A fast, flowing circuit with great changes in elevation and some insanely fast ‘Balls out‘ corners is as popular with the competitors who Race around it as it is with the Media Photographers whose job it is to document the events of the Race day Photographically.
For this image of William Dunlop on the CD Racing Superstock Suzuki I used a wide angle lens to capture more of the landscape, for me the fluffy White Clouds and Blue Sky really make this image.
William Dunlop is always great to Photograph, here he is on the CD Racing Supersport Yamaha R6 and again I used a wide angle lens to capture this image as he skims the Kerbs.
On Thursday for the Dundrod 150 races, Manxman Daniel Kneen, Aussie David Johnson and Brian McCormack from Waterford in the South of Ireland served up a fantastic Race where Johnson set a new lap record. It wasn’t enough though as Daniel Kneen took the win with McCormack in Third.
All throughout this years Ulster Grand Prix Bike Week Two Men showed that they were going to be the Men to beat. Falkirk Flyer Keith Amor and Ian Hutchinson.
London based New Zealander Bruce Anstey has struggled for form this year on the Relentless Suzuki but boy did he find his mojo again for the Ulster Grand Prix! Anstey sat behind Hutchy and Amor keeping a watching eye on proceeedings and then on the final lap he ‘pulled the pin‘ setting a new outright circuit lap record with an average speed of just over 133.9 miles per hour to take the Ulster Grand Prix Superbike Race win and give the Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing Team something to cheer about.
Next weekend sees an Irish Clubmans Championship Race at Bishopscourt on the Saturday followed by an Irish Superbike Championship Race at the same venue on Sunday. I will probably miss them both as I will be Photographing my Brother’s Wedding in ‘Derry.
Tags: Bishopscourt, Brian McCormack, Bruce Anstey, CD Racing, Daniel Kneen, David Johnson, Dundrod, Dundrod 150, Ian Hutchinson, Irish Clubmans Championship, Irish Superbike Championship, Keith Amor, Relentless, TAS, Ulster Grand Prix, Waterford, William Dunlop
Posted by Cleggy on Jul 24, 2010 in
Bike Racing
Earlier in the week (Thursday afternoon) I took a half days leave from ‘the day job‘ to Photograph a quite unique assignment for the new issue of Irish Racer Magazine (going to the publishers this Thursday).
It was a fun shoot, rounded off with a great Chinese Meal in the Red Panda, Antrim and I can’t wait to see the images in print and read the fun interview with the Three lads. Due to an exclusivity agreement I can’t blog the images from the shoot until after the Magazine is in the Shops.
Today was a return to short circuit racing at Bishopscourt in the latest round of the Irish Clubmans championships which included Two Open National races. I really hadn’t intended to go to todays racing but the big chief Editor asked me to go and shoot a few images of Lisburn’s David Haire for another feature.
I got there just in time for the opening Supersport 600 Race which saw a great battle between Nico Mawhinney and Timothy Elwood with Mawhinney just holding on for the win.
I then shot a few quick portraits of David Haire (head and shoulders, 3/4 length and full length) keeping it simple with basic Nikon gear, one remote Nikon SB800 flash triggered by the Nikon SU800 controller onboard the Camera’s hotshoe.
After that I just shot a couple of Races (Marshall Neill won both National Open Races) and had a good ol chin wag with friends in the paddock before heading home. Me oul Jock mate Derek Wilson was there snapping away and rummaging through the pockets of the Marshal’s to scrounge a free lunch ticket. I dunno the depths that that Man is prepared to sink to just to avoid paying for something himself!
Next Saturday sees the resumption of pure Road racing with the Mid-Antrim 150 Road races. Last year Ryan Farquhar had a Four timer, will the opposition be any closer this year?
Tags: Bishopscourt, David Haire, Irish Clubmans, Irish Racer Magazine, Marshall Neill, Mid-Antrim, Nico Mawhinney, Nikon, Nikon SB800, Nikon SU800, Road racing, Ryan Farquhar, Timothy Elwood
Posted by Cleggy on Apr 7, 2010 in
Bike Racing
The Irish championship short circuit racing action moved along the County Down Coast to the Kirkistown race circuit for the second round of the Irish Superbike Championships. The early on-track action was held in cold and wet conditions, but as the day progressed it got drier, and a heck of a lot windier and the Sun even put in an appearance.
I started off where I left off at Bishopscourt by using a slow shutter speed for some panning shots. With so many Motorhomes and other background distractions at race circuits these days, panning motion blur can be used to blur a distracting background.
Cameron Donald – 300mm 1/125th
Cameron Donald – 500mm 1/320th
There was some nice light late in the afternoon to shoot the second superbike race of the day, but a very strong sidewind made it very tricky to hold the Camera and lens (with teleconvertor) steady. To minimise the effect of the wind I used the sheltered side of some Tyres and grass banking, a monopod and a low position to help me capture this image of best friends Gerard Kinghan and Kirk Jamison battling it out wheel-to-wheel at Kirkistown’s hairpin.
Tags: Bishopscourt, Bruce Anstey, Cameron Donald, County Down, Gerard Kinghan, Irish Championship, Irish Superbike Championship, Kirk Jamison, Kirkistown, panning
Posted by Cleggy on Apr 4, 2010 in
Bike Racing
Friday and Saturday saw the start of the Irish Superbike Championship season at Bishopscourt. With Northern Ireland currently only having Two race circuits of a suitable standard for Championship racing it is hard to shoot some original images. For this weekend I decided to concentrate on panning images using a slow shutter speed.
Long, Large, heavy Glass on a monopod is hard to hold steady at the best of times, but when a gusting Wind is catching it, it becomes doubly hard.
Bruce Anstey – 500mm 1/250th sec
James Dickson – 500mm 1/200th sec
With the Wind came heavy Rain showers, lots of surface Water and race Bikes using Wet weather Tyres means lots of spray getting thrown up and this can give the auto-focus motors on Cameras/Lenses a hard time.
In this Photograph Cameron Donald on the Relentless Suzuki sits up and brakes to scrub off some speed for a chicane and you can graphically see just how wet it was!
Cameron Donald – 500mm 1/320th sec
Cameron Donald – 500mm 1/160th sec
Road racing specialist Ryan Farquhar went to Bishopscourt for some track time to help him shake off the Winter rustiness and get his 450 single and 650 Twin bikes dialled in for the season ahead. Ryan took a couple of race wins in the Super Twins class whilst also showing the potential off the ‘wee thumper’ Kawasaki KX450F single.
Ryan Farquhar, Kawasaki ER650F – 500mm 1/100th sec
But the weekend belonged to one of Ireland’s most under-rated racers, Portadown’s Marshall Neill who won all Three Irish Championship Superbike races on a Superstock Suzuki GSXR1000.
Marshall Neill – 500mm 1/200th sec
Marshall also became the 2010 winner of the long running Enkalon Trophy.
Tags: Bishopscourt, Bruce Anstey, Cameron Donald, Enkalon Trophy, Irish Championship, James Dickson, Kawasaki, KX450F, Marshall Neill, monopod, panning, Portadown, Relentless, Ryan Farquhar, Superbike, Superbike Championship, Suzuki, TAS
Posted by Cleggy on Mar 25, 2010 in
Announcements
I have uploaded a small selection of Photographs from Saturday’s Irish Clubmans Championship Motorcycle racing action from Bishopscourt Race Circuit to my online shop.
Tags: Bishopscourt, Irish Clubmans Championship, Motorcycle racing, Photographs
Posted by Cleggy on Mar 21, 2010 in
Location shoot
Last weekend Clubmans Motorcycle Racer and I.T. Guru (aka Geeky Nerd) John Shearer contacted me with regard to me doing a shoot with his Race Bike so that he could obtain a good Photo to hand back to his Sponsors as a thank you.
My people spoke to his people (yeah right) and the plan agreed was that we would shoot it on the track at Bishopscourt either in the morning before the racing started or in the evening when the racing had been completed.
Due to overnight rain the day dawned a bit dull with flat, uninspiring light and the track itself was wet, so I decided to do the shoot in the evening as the Weather forecast was for the showers to die out and drier warmer Weather moving in. That is exactly how it panned out and when the racing was over we got down to business.
I decided to make use of all Three of my Nikon flashguns for this shoot, and there was also the remnants of a nice Sunset to work with. Whilst I was shooting the bike my good mate Derek Wilson shot this image of the lighting setup.
Below is the selected image that I delivered to John, I’m sure he will be well pleased with it.
Yamaha R1 in evening sunset. AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED
It would be great to own a nice big, long, custom built studio for this kind of shoot where you can control the lighting exactly how you want it. But I don’t have such resources at my disposal and so the most of the lighting shoots I do are outdoors working on location. Working on location has its challenges eg Wind blowing over light stands etc, but the results are always worthwhile.
Tags: AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED, Bishopscourt, John Shearer, Motorcycle racer, Nikon, R1 Yamaha
Posted by Cleggy on Mar 21, 2010 in
Bike Racing The 2010 Irish Short Circuit Motorcycle Racing season got underway yesterday at Bishopscourt for the opening round of the Irish Clubmans Championship. A dull start with a Wet Track from overnight Rain got things off to a subdued start but the Sun came out, the Track dried up and every Race ran in dry conditions.
Included in the programme was Two open Races for ‘the big boys‘ the competitors in the Irish Superbike Championship. This was an opportunity for them to get some track time on their bikes before their own championships get underway at the same venue over the Easter Weekend.
The Two open races served up the best and fastest racing of the day providing good action for Photography.
Portadown’s Marshall Neill is one of Ireland’s under-rated racers who normally competes in the British Superstock Championship. For 2010 Marshall will be racing at home in the Irish Superbike Championships with the odd race ‘across the water’. Marshall’s first race of the day saw him have a minor crash but he showed what he was made of in Race Two by winning. There is a lot of racing to go before the 2010 Irish Superbike Champion is crowned, but already Marshall Neill is looking like a contender.
Marshall Neill leads Denver Robb, Kirk Jamison, Brian McCormack and Richard Rea at Bishopscourt
James Dickson #16 in the middle of the pack at the start of the second Open Race
Tags: Bishopscourt, Brian McCormack, Denver Robb, Irish Clubmans Championship, Irish Superbike Championship, James Dickson, Kirk Jamison, Marshall Neill, Motorcycle racing, Richard Rea
Posted by Cleggy on Mar 13, 2010 in
Carsport
With Kart racing on at Kirkistown, Motocross at Tinkerhill, Newry and the annual Bishopscourt Stages Car Rally I was a bit spoilt for choice this weekend for some Photographic action. I decided that I was sick of the Dust and Dirt all over my Camera and lenses from the Motocross and made the decision to shoot some ‘Tin Boxes’ at Bishopscourt.
With the first of the Six scheduled stages set to commence at 9am I had a severe bit of persuading to do to convince my auld pal Derek ‘Jock’ Wilson to get out of his Bed early. Apparently 7:30am(ish) is, to quote auld Jock, “the middle of the Night“. But with the offer of buying him some Brekkie (Jocks like nothing better than a freebie) he was soon convinced.
Having spectated at this stage Rally many many years ago I knew there was a jump on one of the Concrete sections of the stages and so we made a bee-line for it prior to the sweeper car coming round. Its a good job we went when we did cos it seemed like every Man, Woman and Child with a Camera had had the same idea and shooting space was at a premium due to more restrictive safety restrictions than previous years.
Andrew McCormick at the Bishopscourt stages Rally 2010
I slowed my shutter speed right down to 1/160th of a second to give a sense on motion to this image (below) of Desi Henry over the jump in his Ford Fiesta rally Car.
On the final stage before the Lunch interval the forecasted Sunshine finally put in a welcome, but all too brief appearance, but it stayed long enough to get some better light for this image of a tidy BMW.
Conor Lavery at the Bishopscourt stages Rally 2010
Auld Jock was nattering on in my Ear about how he wanted to capture an image of one of the Rally Cars casting up a cloud of ‘Stour’ but despite numerous attempts at various locations it didn’t quite happen for him. Mind you there was one prime opportunity for him when one Car slid wide and was headed straight for him, but like all Jocks rather than hold his ground he legged it. For such an Old Boy he has a fair turn of speed in those arthritic legs!
Jock me oul China, this next image is for you.
1/500th f6.3
1/800th f4
Stuart Biggerstaff
The day though belonged to Derek McGarrity. The Glengormley driver, in his state-of-the-art Subaru Impreza WRC S12B, dominated the Ballynahinch and District MC event to record the fastest time on all Six stages and win the rally over a minute.
An absolutely freezing day at Bishopscourt which turned out to be almost as Dusty on the Camera gear as the Motocross, and now back to the same venue next weekend for the first Motorbike racing action of the 2010 season in the Irish Clubmans championship.
As always you can purchase from a selection of my vast Photographic Library by selecting from my online galleries.
Tags: Andrew McCormick, Bishopscourt, Bishopscourt Stages, BMW, Conor Lavery, Derek McGarrity, Desi Henry, Ford Fiesta rally Car, Gareth Nevin, Kart, Kart Racing, Kirkistown, Mervyn Williamson, Motocross, Newry, Rally, Stuart Biggerstaff, Subaru, Tinkerhill, WRC
Posted by Cleggy on Mar 7, 2010 in
Bike Racing
The annual Pre-Season Race bikes only test day at Bishopscourt was held yesterday in bright Spring Sunshine giving the Bike racers a chance to adjust to new machinery or run in Engines prior to the first race of the year at the same venue in just Two Weeks time.
Some die-hard racers made the long journey North from as far South as Cork, so it was fitting that the Weather for once ‘played Ball’ and provided everyone with ample Track time. There was a dire lack of Marshal’s present on the day so it was fortunate that there were no serious incidents.
For me the bright Sun was an opportunity to get some practice with my Nikon TC-17E II AF-S Teleconverter. Using it in the past I have come away with mixed results, but this weekend I nailed it and came away with lots of really sharp images despite the long focal length (750mm in 35mm terms!)
Michael Pearson at Bishopscourt on the Morrell Racing Kawasaki ZX10
Newry Schoolgirl Karen Hadden #21 at Bishopscourt
Josh Cunningham at Bishopscourt
2009 Irish Road Race 750 Support Champion Benny Smith was at Bishopscourt on a new Ducati 1098
2008 Irish Superbike Champion Brian McCormack
Jamie Johnston crashes after contact with another rider
A great days Weather and some cracking images means all the Pre-season shooting Motocross etc has paid off and left me ‘Camera sharp’ ready for the racing action when the Season starts.
Tags: Benny Smith, Bishopscourt, Brian McCormack, Cork, Ducati, Jamie Johnston, Josh Cunningham, Karen Hadden, Kawasaki ZX10, Michael Pearson, Nikon, Nikon TC-17E II AF-S Teleconverter
Posted by Cleggy on Dec 28, 2009 in
Bike Racing I have uploaded a selection of images to my online shop from four Irish Superbike championship race meetings; April at Bishopscourt and Kirkistown, July at Kirkistown and the October Mondello Masters meeting.
Tags: Bishopscourt, Irish Superbike, Kirkistown, Mondello Masters