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 6, 2010 in
Bike Racing
This past weekend also saw the second round of the new Kildare championship at Mondello Park.
Having been in the Dublin area to Photograph the Skerries road races, myself and fellow Photographer Derek Wilson decided to share a room in a cheap Hotel, rather than drive back home only to return back up again the next morning. Suitably refreshed with a cooked breakfast (much better quality and much much much much cheaper than the Dick Turpin prices at Skerries!) we set off for Mondello Park.
It was raining when we got there so I just left the big glass in Derek’s car, grabbed a Nikon Camera, a short lens and a Nikon SB800 flashgun and decided to just Photograph around the paddock, pit garages and podium presentations. The Weather turned out hot and sunny a little over an hour later but still I left the big glass in his car.
For the above image of Tim Stott preparing a 125 Honda for race action I used very shallow depth of field to isolate him from the background.
Grid Girls are a welcome new feature to Motorcycle racing at Mondello Park this year. Katya Slavashevkaya (3rd right in image above) has recently contacted me to arrange a shoot for her modelling agency portfolio, hopefully we can find a suitable date and time soon.
Glenn Irwin whom I have blogged about a few times was in sensational form on the day setting a new lap record as he destroyed the opposition to win both Supersport 600 races.
Tags: Dublin, Glenn Irwin, Grid Girls, Katya Slavashevkaya, Kildare, Kildare Championship, Mondello Park, Photograph, Skerries, Tim Stott
Posted by Cleggy on Jun 3, 2010 in
Bike Racing Is there a more scenic Race circuit anywhere in the World to Photograph than the Isle of Man TT Mountain circuit?
Here Ryan Farquhar exits the Tower Bends complex on his approach to the Gooseneck.
Tags: Isle of Man TT, Photograph, Ryan Farquhar, TT
Posted by Cleggy on May 19, 2010 in
Bike Racing
Each year the North West 200 gets harder to Photograph, more and more restrictions are placed upon media Photographers in the name of safety.
With limited access and often having to compete for clear shooting space with the general public, not to mention favouritism by the promoting club shown to ‘the chosen Three‘ you really do have to choose your location carefully. This year I based myself around the Primrose Hill and York corner section of the circuit to give me a few different locations all within relatively short walking distance.
I generally look for a location that will give me a variety of shots from the one spot so that I can maximise the potential of the location rather than endlessly shooting similar looking images. For this location on the inside of Primrose Hill I was able to shoot head-ons, rear shots and climb a high Grassy bank to get an elevated shot looking down on the bikes.
Situated very close to the start / finish area this location is ideal for a first lap group shot of all the Race Bikes screaming round the left-hander.
William Dunlop in the thick of the Supersport race action at the 2010 North West 200
After a lap the slower riders from the B and C groups became a bit more strung out and I was able to turn around and shoot some rear shots with a 70-200mm lens (at 135mm) to allow me to capture more of the scene and include the Sea in the background as the spectators watch the action unfold.
William Davidson during the Supersport race at the 2010 North West 200
Climbing up to the top of a Grassy bank gained me some elevation allowing me to shoot down on the bikes, this time using the 200mm end of my Nikon 70-200mm lens I was able to isolate a single Bike for a shot with a slightly unusual perspective that you rarely see in Irish racing Photographs.
Ryan Farquhar during the Supersport race at the 2010 North West 200
But the main talking point of this years North West 200 was the performance of Alastair ‘Wee Wizard’ Seeley who won Two Races for the Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing Team and in doing so managed to become the first local winner of a Superbike Race at the North West 200 since Philip McCallen way back in 1997.
Alastair Seeley celebrates winning the main North West 200 Superbike race at the 2010 North West 200
People think that the job is finished after the chequered Flag drops on the last Race of the day, but my Monday and Tuesday evenings of this week were spent captioning and key-wording all my images, then culling out the lesser quality images, before culling them a second time so that I then had a good tight selection of publication worthy images.
Tags: Alastair Seeley, Nikon, North West 200, Philip McCallen, Photograph, Photographers, Primrose Hill, Relentless, Ryan Farquhar, Superbike, Supersport, TAS, Wee Wizard, William Davidson, William Dunlop, York corner
Posted by Cleggy on May 11, 2010 in
Bike Racing
Earlier tonight saw the opening practice session for the 2010 North West 200 Road Races. With Roads scheduled to close around 5pm, and myself stuck in work at Antrim until 4:30pm, I made the decision not to attend as I would have been unable to make it up to the circuit, get myself signed on and the car parked up before the Roads closed. Instead I am venturing up on Thursday for the daytime practice session, which at this stage is looking a bit iffy with the Irish Weather!
The move to daytime practice is a great idea (despite it costing me one of my all too few days of annual leave from the day job) and its a move that the competing Teams are all in favour off. Hopefully the Weather won’t turn out to be as bad as is being predicted.
In this blog posting I displayed a Photograph of Ryan Farquhar’s new Kawasaki Superbike, which at that stage he hadn’t even ridden. Ryan got a few laps on the bike at a damp Kirkistown Race circuit yesterday morning before taking it out tonight for first practice for Saturday’s North West 200 races. Despite the lack of time on the bike Ryan managed to post a time that would leave him 6th quickest in a session headed by Honda’s Steve Plater and John McGuinness.
The evening’s practice/qualifying session for the North West 200 Race saw a lengthy delay due to an oil spillage when Gary Johnson’s engine blew up. Lets hope that Thursdays qualifying session sees no such delays and gives us some good light to capture some nice images for the various publications we represent.
Tags: Antrim, Gary Johnson, Honda, John McGuinness, Kawasaki, Kirkistown, North West 200, Photograph, Ryan Farquhar, Steve Plater, Superbike
Posted by Cleggy on May 6, 2010 in
Bike Racing,
PR
Ryan Farquhar surpassed the late great Joey Dunlop’s victory record at Killalane in 2009 to become the most successful Irish national Road racer ever. For a man that has won almost everything there is to win in the high risk sport of Motorcycle Road Racing, Ryan has his feet firmly on the ground.
Working out of a small garage workshop at the side of his Two up, Two down Killyman home he burns the midnight oil meticulously preparing his own race bikes, putting in long hours behind the scenes that the majority of race fans just don’t realise. Every nut and bolt is inspected, tightened and checked and double checked to ensure that come the weekend and the next race that nothing has been left to chance.
Tonight Ryan invited me round to look at and Photograph the MSS Kawasaki Superbike that he has the use of for his assault on the dream of a Superbike victory at one of the big three International Road Races. If the bike is as good as it looks then Ryan will be in with a fighting chance, despite the high calibre of opposition he will be up against.
Despite this being a bike prepared by MSS Colchester Kawasaki under the supervision of Nick Morgan, Ryan still stripped the bike down to see what brackets etc needed strengthening to survive the rigours of Road racing. If Ryan doesn’t get a win or Two on this bike, you can be sure it won’t be his own fault.
Ryan, best of luck for the racing, and keep it safe out there.
Tags: Joey Dunlop, Kawasaki, Killalane, Killyman, Motorcycle, MSS, Nick Morgan, Photograph, Road racing, Ryan Farquhar, Superbike
Posted by Cleggy on Jan 30, 2010 in
Bike Racing,
PR
Another heavy overnight Frost meant a chilly start to the day as I set off for County Down to Photograph Alastair Seeley and his new Relentless Suzuki RMZ250 Motocross bike that he will be using for some Winter fitness training. With a clear Blue Sky and some sunshine I was hopeful of capturing some nice action images with my trusty Nikon’s.
Just as I sat down to write this Blog posting the Editor of Irish Racer Magazine contacted me to say “Keep those Seeley pics for the mag!” so I knew there and then that I wouldn’t be able to display a selection of the images on my Blog until after the magazine was published.
In the mean time here is one of the images from todays shoot that I did not submit to the magazine, having culled it during my submission selection process. I will do another Blog post at a later date with the selection of images that I submitted to the magazine.
Tags: Alastair Seeley, County Down, Irish Racer Magazine, Motocross, Nikon, Photograph, Suzuki RMZ250