Posted by Cleggy on Jul 19, 2010 in
Bike Racing,
PR
Ask any Road racing fan to name an iconic image of Irish Motorcycle racing and the bets odds are a heck of a lot of them will mention the jumps at the Kells Road races in County Meath. Photographers’ images from these jumps have been used on countless Magazines, Newspapers, Books, Calendars, Race Programmes etc and go a long way to promote the event, attracting sponsors money to the races.
This year the Kells club and Chief Marshal agreed that only Five accredited, insured photographers at any one time could Photograph at either jump, a fair and amicable agreement on the grounds of safety. Then about Ten minutes prior to the start of practice that agreement was over-ruled by the powers that be and we were told that no Photographer could shoot the jumps except from the same areas that the public can shoot from. Needless to say there was uproar with the Photographers association even talking about a mass boycott of publicity for the event. However a boycott would not hurt the right people, nor would it help the sport which is already in a very fragile position.
Whilst supporting the sentiments behind a boycott I could not fully support it as I had pressure on me to deliver images for Adelaide Insurance and Irish Racer Magazine. Adelaide not only sponsor the Kells Road races but they also advertise in Irish Racer and sponsor the Irish Racer Awards dinner.
Why one side of the Road is deemed safe and the other side declared as too dangerous I don’t think I will ever understand that thinking! In my opinion nowhere is safe and I’m personally prepared to photograph anywhere that I myself feel comfortable with. As it was I shot some images from the ‘safe‘ side of the Road.
In this image I used a wide angle Nikon lens to capture Australian racer Cameron Donald is in mid-flight on his Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing Superbike.
Towards the end of practice the cruel side of the sport reared its ugly head again claiming the life of Stephen Larkin and predictably in this nanny state we live in today there is now yet another call for Road racing to be banned. Should we now also ban driving to work? or ban Horse riding?
On Race day Adelaide insurance had a few PR girls to assist with PR and out on the grid prior to each race. I again used a wide angle Nikon lens and the ever reliable Nikon SB800 flash gun to capture this image.
Race day was blighted by constant light rain, which then turned to heavy rain by mid-day and eventually conditions became too wet for racing to continue. Definitely not a Kells road race to remember, from what is normally an excellent race meeting.
In my Photograph below, TT race winner Adrian Archibald huddles under an umbrella with fellow racers Davy Morgan and Michael Dunlop.
Tags: Adelaide Insurance, Adrian Archibald, Cameron Donald, Davy Morgan, Irish Motorcycle racing, Irish Racer Magazine, Kells, Kells Road races, Michael Dunlop, Nikon, Nikon SB800, Photograph, Relentless Suzuki, Stephen Larkin, TAS
Posted by Cleggy on Jun 10, 2010 in
Bike Racing
Another scorcher of a day on the Isle of Man. I set off for the 11th milestone section of the Mountain circuit only to encounter a Police road closure at Ballig Bridge due to a Road traffic accident further down the Road at Barregarrow. After some coercion persuasion I managed to convince the Police officer to allow me through but he only permitted me to travel as far as Glen Moar.
Glen Moar was not where I wanted to shoot todays racing from, but it was almost Road closing time and so I decided to try and make the most of it. The section itself is probably good for Photographs but in the harsh, contrasty light that there was today, it was a real struggle to get decent images.
Davy Morgan at Glen Moar on the Isle of Man TT Mountain Circuit
William Dunlop at Glen Moar on the Isle of Man TT Mountain Circuit
During the racing, experienced racer Paul Dobbs from New Zealand lost his life in a crash at Ballagarey (nicknamed Ballascarey by the racers). My sympathies to his Wife, children and wider family circle and friends.
Tags: Ballig Bridge, Barregarrow, Davy Morgan, Glen Moar, Isle of Man TT, Mountain Circuit, New Zealand, Paul Dobbs, Photographs, TT, William Dunlop
Posted by Cleggy on Apr 25, 2010 in
Bike Racing
Yesterday saw the first national Irish Road Race of the 2010 Championship Season held on the Orritor circuit just outside Cookstown in County Tyrone.
On such a short race circuit its very difficult to produce images that are different, you tend to end up repeating shots from previous seasons. This year though the impact from the knee-jerk reactions to the Coroner’s report from the John Donnan case has seen numerous extra restrictions put in place (in the name of safety) further hampering the job of the Photographer’s who do excellent work promoting the sport far and wide all season long.
The ‘togs’ must be an easy target, because on the day I spotted Marshal’s photographing the races (not permitted in their rules) and I even spotted an MCUI member (not holding any official role on the day) walking out on to a live circuit instead of waiting for the travelling Marshal’s to come round declaring the track safe to walk on. There was an even more serious H&S matter involving a padlock and chain on the paddock gate!
Rather than restricting the genuine Photographers (who by and large are well behaved) movements on Race day, would it not be better to reduce their numbers? Anyway thats my wee rant out of the way for this weekend haha.
All around the World the Two stroke racing Motorcycle is on the wane due to emmissions laws, running costs etc etc but in Ireland there are still die-hard Two stroke fans. In this image below Davy Morgan is in the thick of the action during the ‘Two Fifty’ race in a battle for third position.
Davy Morgan Honda RS250 at Cookstown
The 250 race was comfortably won by William Dunlop with his brother Michael finishing second.
William Dunlop Honda RS250 at Cookstown
Andy Farrell was having his first race on his new Yamaha R1 and rode it in typical ‘Farrelly‘ style.
Andy Farrell at Cookstown on a Yamaha R1
But the weekend’s racing was dominated by one man, Ryan Farquhar. Ryan Farquhar has started the 2010 racing season in the same fashion as how he finished the 2009 season, dominating race meetings, racking up wins, shattering lap records, continuing to work hard preparing behind the scenes allowing him to put in the best performances he can when he takes to the track.
Last weekend at the Scarborough Spring Cup Ryan scored eight wins from eight starts and this weekend at Cookstown he scored Five wins from Five starts (In Irish Road racing any individual competitor can only compete in a maximum of Five races in any One Day, again in the name of Health and Safety).
Ryan Farquhar won Five races at the 2010 Cookstown 100
Tags: Andy Farrell, Cookstown, County Tyrone, Davy Morgan, Irish Road Race, John Donnan, Orritor circuit, Ryan Farquhar, Scarborough, William Dunlop