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 Jul 5, 2010 in
Bike Racing
The first Saturday of July is the traditional date for the Skerries Motorcycle Road races, one of the most popular events on the Irish calendar which always attracts large crowds of spectators, and usually gets good Weather too.
The sport of Motorbike racing is very popular in the Skerries area with lots of die-hard road racing fans and it attracts its fair share of competitors from the region too. In this first image of mine from this years racing at Skerries, Andy Farrell exits the Sam’s tunnel / shady lane section of the circuit hard on the gas with the front wheel of his Yamaha R1 pointing skyward.
Rotating my camera to a portrait format gives a different look to this same shot, this time of Michael Pearson.
Further back down the road is the appropriately named ‘Shady lane’. This section of the circuit is lined with Trees on both sides of the road (with a heavy canopy of leaves which block out the light making the Photographers job more difficult) and as you can see, hundreds of race fans cram in to every vantage point possible just feet away from the action. Getting up close to the Irish road racing is what makes it special, smelling the bikes, feeling the blast of wind as the machines pass by at high speed. Kill this atmosphere in the name of Health and safety and I suspect the buzz of going to a road race will not be the same.
Here Lee Hill hammers through shady lane giving chase to John Ella and Myles Byrne, sadly Myles was to lose his life in a crash later-on that same day.
Here William Dunlop (Honda RS125) is about to get over-taken by the wily Ryan Farquhar (Kawasaki KX450) on the brakes in to the hairpin at Skerries.
The ‘Scaries’ Supersport 600 race was an absolute belter between Ryan Farquhar and Keith Amor, with Michael Dunlop and William Dunlop 3rd and 4th throughout. Farquhar led the race for quite a few laps but he pushed a bit hard one lap and the front wheel tucked on a bump leaving a big dark line on the tarmac but luckily fortune was on his side and he did not crash, however this gave Amor the incentive who found a way through to take the lead and go on to win.
Tags: Andy Farrell, John Ella, Keith Amor, Lee Hill, Michael Dunlop, Michael Pearson, Motorcycle, Myles Byrne, Ryan Farquhar, Skerries, William Dunlop, Yamaha R1
Posted by Cleggy on Jun 6, 2010 in
Bike Racing
With the racing finally running late on Saturday afternoon it meant that Sunday was as per the schedule a day with no racing. I took advantage of this to get a bit of a lie in, a rare treat, before venturing out for another walk round the TT paddock.
I noticed this interesting sign in the Uel Duncan camp, a reflection on their racer Michael Dunlop and just how much he puts on the line (as do all the other competitors) when he tackles the Isle of Man TT Mountain circuit!
John Burrow’s Shark Helmets lay in the corner of his awning unwashed from yesterdays race, and you can see that the Manx insect population has been visibly reduced due the speed the big lad was travelling at.
Inside the awning of Chris Dowd’s Team CD Racing, William Dunlop’s Race Tyre for tomorrows Superstock Race has already been selected.
I then went off a spin in the Car to scout out a few possible shooting locations for tomorrows racing, and there is one spot in the Glen Helen area that looks like it might offer some good Photographs………….but then I would have to contend with more of those Manx Midges!
Tags: CD Racing, Chris Dowd, Glen Helen, Isle of Man TT, John Burrows, Michael Dunlop, Mountain Circuit, Shark Helmet, TT, Uel Duncan, William Dunlop
Posted by Cleggy on Jun 5, 2010 in
Bike Racing
The Friday of practice week is my traditional evening for meandering through the paddock, holding area and start grid capturing candid images of the racers and their machinery. This year was no different, lots of candid images of the racers, their race bikes, and of course the all important glamour promoional Girls.
With practice now completed and the first race of the 2010 Isle of Man TT now upon us, Michael Dunlop headed the times in the Superstock class.
The Superbike race looks like being a fierce battle between John McGuinness and Ian Hutchinson for the race win. But this is the TT, anything can happen!
Tags: Ian Hutchinson, Isle of Man TT, John McGuinness, Michael Dunlop, TT
Posted by Cleggy on Sep 16, 2009 in
Bike Racing The 2009 Country Crest Killalane Road Races was the final Irish road race event of a hectic 2009 season and ironically after a ‘Summer’ of wet weather the Sun finally put in an appearance, and the temperature soared.
Warm sunny weather creates its own problems for Photographers with the contrast range of the light levels exceeding that which can be captured by the sensors of modern digital SLR cameras. For this reason the Photographer has to choose what is the most important element they wish to be exposed correctly and use the available Camera controls to ensure that that part of the image is properly exposed.
Killalane saw Ryan Farquhar continue his rich veign of form and dominate the days racing taking three race wins on the day to smash a long standing record of National road race victories which had been held by the late great Joey Dunlop OBE MBE.
Nikon D300, 300mm @ f4
Many a race in days gone by saw Joey and Robert Dunlop race wheel-to-wheel in the GP125 class on the Irish Roads. Sadly Robert and Joey both lost their lives to the sport they were so addicted to, however a new generation of Dunlop is now racing the roads and this picture (below) that I captured shows Sam Dunlop just leading his Cousins Michael and William Dunlop, at the chequered flag it was William who came out on top to take the victory from Michael and Sam.
Nikon D300, 300mm @ f5.6
Tags: D300, Killalane, Michael Dunlop, Nikon, Ryan Farquhar, Sam Dunlop, William Dunlop