Posted by Cleggy on Aug 5, 2010 in
PR
Issue #97 (August 2010) of Irish Racer Magazine hit the Shop Shelves this morning. This is the Ulster Grand Prix preview issue and it also features the Laverty Brothers (Eugene Laverty, John Laverty, Michael Laverty), a remarkable story of Three Brothers from Northern Ireland all competing at a very high level in Motorcycle racing (one vying to be Supersport World Champion this year!).
Also within the pages of this Months Irish Racer magazine is features on Simon Andrews, Michael Pearson, Sandor Bitter, David Haire, Ulster Grand Prix and Manx Grand Prix previews and the usual Monthly columns from the likes of Jonathan Rea.
It has been another excellent issue for myself in that I have Twenty of my Photographs published in the Magazine this Month including the front cover Photograph from a recent Photo shoot of the Laverty Brothers.
Tags: David Haire, Eugene Laverty, Irish Racer Magazine, John Laverty, Jonathan Rea, Manx Grand Prix, Michael Laverty, Michael Pearson, Motorcycle racing, Northern Ireland, Photographs, Sandor Bitter, Simon Andrews, Supersport, Ulster Grand Prix, World Champion
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 Jul 15, 2010 in
Bike Racing
On Tuesday it was the latest round of the Irish Superbike Championships at Kirkistown Race circuit in County Down. The Weather forecast was for prolonged Rain but luckily it did not arrive until after the racing had been and gone.
Kirkistown is a very small, flat circuit with very few corners which makes it hard not to continually repeat shots that you have captured many times before. With the recent clamp down on Health and Safety at race circuits (fat lot of good its doing with racers still getting killed and spectators still getting hurt) it is getting even harder to capture anything worthwhile at this circuit. But with by utilising large glass and a tele-convertor its still possible to shoot some action.
The dedicated Medical Team do a great job of quickly getting to the scene of an incident and attending to the injured racers, here they can be seen in action attending to Jason Cash who luckily was not badly hurt in this crash. This incident happened quite some distance away from me but a 300mm Nikon lens and 1.7 tele-convertor helped me to zoom in on the scene for an image that the Medical Team were appreciative of.
I was down to a shorter lens and a very slow shutter speed ( 1/80th sec ) to capture some panning images when Scott Lonsdale crashed in front of me, sadly the shutter speed for panning images wasn’t quite fast enough to capture this crash any sharper.
Kirk Jamison and Gerard Kinghan are just Two of the many friends I have made through racing and although they are rivals on track they are also good friends off it, here they are locked in battle at Kirkistown. Sadly Gerard crashed out shortly after this and broke his Collarbone.
But Portadown’s Marshall Neill had one win and a runner-up spot, he would have had Two wins only a commentators cock-up on the number of laps remaining meant that his pit crew displayed the wrong info to him on his signal board allowing David Haire to win the second Superbike race. But Marshall still has a very healthy lead in the championship fight.
Tags: County Down, David Haire, Gerard Kinghan, Irish Superbike Championship, Jason Cash, Kirk Jamison, Kirkistown, Marshall Neill, Medical Team, Nikon, panning, Scott Lonsdale
Posted by Cleggy on Dec 26, 2009 in
Bike Racing Following on from my ‘Best of 2009 – Candids’ and ‘Best of 2009 – Road racing’ blog posts, this post contains a selection of my favourite photographs from the Irish short circuit racing season just finished. Selecting your own personal favourites is never easy, and your choice varies each time you attempt it (well mine does anyway), but I’ve had a go at it and here they are (in no particular order).
Hot n heavy action as David Haire, BJ Toal and Ian Lowry battle for the same strip of Tarmac, the Grass and Dirt is thrown up in to the air from BJ’s Knee slider.
1/1000th f9 300mm f2.8 VR
Gerard Kinghan powers out of Dunlop corner at Mondello Park, front Wheel up in the air and the rear Tyre struggling to maintain its grip on the Tarmac as Gerard keeps the Throttle pinned.
1/1000th f5.6 300mm f2.8 VR
Glenn Irwin was just too eager to get on the power at turn two at Mondello Park and the power of the MAR-Train Suzuki was too much for a relatively cold Tyre at the start of the race. Before Glenn knew anything about it he was spat of the bike and looking for his landing spot.
1/1250th f8 300mm f2.8 VR
A nice slow shutter speed emphasises the sense of speed as Drew Jamison negotiates Debtors dip at Kirkistown.
1/160th f20 300mm f2.8 VR
Again a nice slow shutter speed and panning was used here to emphasise the sense of speed as Gary Johnson scrubs up some speed to enter Colonials at Kirkistown.
1/160th f14 300mm f2.8 VR
A 300mm lens and a 1.7x tele-convertor were called in to action for this tight shot of Wayne Kirwan at Bishopscourt.
1/800th f6.3 300mm f2.8 VR and TC17 tele convertor
Damien Mulleady, John Walsh, Robbie Lanigan and Ronan Shanahan in formation at Mondello Park.
1/800th f8 300mm f2.8 VR
Rubbing is racing! Marshall Neill makes contact with Ian Lowry during a cold, wet finale to the 2009 Irish Superbike championship at Bishopscourt. The contact was that heavy that Ian had to ’sit up’ and run wide on to the Grass to avoid crashing.
1/800th f7.1 300mm f2.8 VR
As always you can purchase from a selection of my vast Photographic Library by selecting from my online galleries.
Tags: 300mm f2.8 VR, Bishopscourt, BJ Toal, Damien Mulleady, David Haire, Drew Jamison, Gary Johnson, Gerard Kinghan, Glenn Irwin, Ian Lowry, John Walsh, Kirkistown, MAR-Train, Marshall Neill, Mondello Park, panning, Robbie Lanigan, slow shutter speed, Wayne Kirwan