BSB Silverstone
30th September 2008
Weekend work commitments plus the bad weather has meant I've missed a few rounds of the superbikes and with the main WSB round at Donington missed, I needed to get out with the camera.
Silverstone is my local track and it's my least favourite track for photography. The circuit layout is very poor for photography especially from the public viewing areas and with less than a hand full of corners that you can get close to, it makes it hard work trying to get different images of the riders.
Still, it's on my doorstep and I'd taken the weekend off from work so I was determined to make the most of it. The weather forecast was also good for a change with no rain predicted.
Saturday morning, I woke to thick fog, this dosen't look good I thought. I was hoping it would clear by the time I arrived at the circuit but it hung around for most of the morning delaying the bikes from coming out on circuit for a couple of hours.
The only bike you could safely ride around the track, was a push bike..
By late morning the fog started to burn off so I headed for the bridge/priory sections of the track. The fog had held things up a bit so practice times where cut a bit short to fit everyone in so I grabbed a few shots before having a wander around the pits.
Leon Camier Airwaves Ducati
Carl Harris RM Yamaha
Michael Rutter North West 200 Ducati
Silverstone normally has an open pit policy over the whole of the weekend meeting which gives fans a chance to get some signatures from their favourite riders.
Walking about I soon noticed a big crowd at the Airwaves Ducati team garage with Shakey and Leon Camier signing stuff for the fans.
Leon Camier..
A harden Shakey fan..
Shakey with his Mrs..
Rocket Ron Haslam was out signing a few of his books for the punters.
British Supersport Champion Glen Richards was collered by a few fans too.
I spotted the best looking paddock bike in the Maxxis pit garage..
It was also interesting to see how much work goes into looking after and preparing the riders crash helmets after each session. I took a few snaps at the Shoei stand as they cleaned,checked the visors and fitted new tear offs to the lids.
I headed over to the Abbey hairpin pin for the afternoon qualifying session, this corner is about the closest you can get to the action but by now the sunlight was pretty harsh and made life difficult getting decent images.
Jason O,Halloran SMT Honda.
Shakey Airwaves Ducati.
Atsushi Watanabe Rizla Suzuki.
For Sunday, (race day) I decided to watch the racing instead of rushing around the circuit trying to get images
so the Mrs and I settled in at the Abbey hairpin which is normally pretty good for action.
Leon Camier took the win in the first race ahead of Cal Crutchlow, Leon's 3rd win of the season.
Leon keeping Cal at bay.
Shakey clinched the Superbike title by coming home in 3rd.
Tom Sykes took out Leon Haslam in the first race which gifted the title to Shakey, although it was only a matter of time before Shakey rapped it up anyway.
Tom Skyes working his way through the field after his crash.
The second race was won by Leon Haslam with Shakey 2nd and Tom Skyes 3rd. Leon's team mate Cal Crutchlow had bike problems after working his way back up the field after making a mistake in the opening few laps.
He still found time to sign a few programmes though which was decent of him, you could tell he was p****d off.
He managed to stop his team mate for a lift back to the pits after the race, effectively ruining Leon's cool down celebration lap...
Captions for this image would be interesting... ;-)
You can find more images in the gallery section..
Thanks for looking.
Silverstone is my local track and it's my least favourite track for photography. The circuit layout is very poor for photography especially from the public viewing areas and with less than a hand full of corners that you can get close to, it makes it hard work trying to get different images of the riders.
Still, it's on my doorstep and I'd taken the weekend off from work so I was determined to make the most of it. The weather forecast was also good for a change with no rain predicted.
Saturday morning, I woke to thick fog, this dosen't look good I thought. I was hoping it would clear by the time I arrived at the circuit but it hung around for most of the morning delaying the bikes from coming out on circuit for a couple of hours.
The only bike you could safely ride around the track, was a push bike..
By late morning the fog started to burn off so I headed for the bridge/priory sections of the track. The fog had held things up a bit so practice times where cut a bit short to fit everyone in so I grabbed a few shots before having a wander around the pits.
Leon Camier Airwaves Ducati
Carl Harris RM Yamaha
Michael Rutter North West 200 Ducati
Silverstone normally has an open pit policy over the whole of the weekend meeting which gives fans a chance to get some signatures from their favourite riders.
Walking about I soon noticed a big crowd at the Airwaves Ducati team garage with Shakey and Leon Camier signing stuff for the fans.
Leon Camier..
A harden Shakey fan..
Shakey with his Mrs..
Rocket Ron Haslam was out signing a few of his books for the punters.
British Supersport Champion Glen Richards was collered by a few fans too.
I spotted the best looking paddock bike in the Maxxis pit garage..
It was also interesting to see how much work goes into looking after and preparing the riders crash helmets after each session. I took a few snaps at the Shoei stand as they cleaned,checked the visors and fitted new tear offs to the lids.
I headed over to the Abbey hairpin pin for the afternoon qualifying session, this corner is about the closest you can get to the action but by now the sunlight was pretty harsh and made life difficult getting decent images.
Jason O,Halloran SMT Honda.
Shakey Airwaves Ducati.
Atsushi Watanabe Rizla Suzuki.
For Sunday, (race day) I decided to watch the racing instead of rushing around the circuit trying to get images
so the Mrs and I settled in at the Abbey hairpin which is normally pretty good for action.
Leon Camier took the win in the first race ahead of Cal Crutchlow, Leon's 3rd win of the season.
Leon keeping Cal at bay.
Shakey clinched the Superbike title by coming home in 3rd.
Tom Sykes took out Leon Haslam in the first race which gifted the title to Shakey, although it was only a matter of time before Shakey rapped it up anyway.
Tom Skyes working his way through the field after his crash.
The second race was won by Leon Haslam with Shakey 2nd and Tom Skyes 3rd. Leon's team mate Cal Crutchlow had bike problems after working his way back up the field after making a mistake in the opening few laps.
He still found time to sign a few programmes though which was decent of him, you could tell he was p****d off.
He managed to stop his team mate for a lift back to the pits after the race, effectively ruining Leon's cool down celebration lap...
Captions for this image would be interesting... ;-)
You can find more images in the gallery section..
Thanks for looking.
