Valenciamotogp2018
A photographic guide to the Valencia MotoGp 2018.

The Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo which is shortened to Circuit Ricardo Tormo or The Circuit de Valencia is located Cheste Spain. A modern circuit built in 1999, this is the location for this year's Spanish MotoGp.

Our roving photographer Keith Adcock armed with a Nikon D850 and a Nikon 70-200 f2.8 lens with a 1.4 teleconverter captured the event from the Naranja (Orange) stand. 

Unlike the British MotoGP practice day, the Spaniards restrict you to the stand you have purchased your ticket for the duration of the weekend. 

At Silverstone this is the same for race day but you have a roving ticket for the practice Friday so can get a few different angles. A guide to the British MotoGP can be found here. 

Just like this year's Silverstone GP the weather was awful with rain of biblical proportions. This area of Spain had suffered flooding and just like Silverstone that was cancelled due to weather, it was touch and go if the event was going to be staged.
The weather had been a factor all the weekend. To put it in perspective this GP had the most crashes of any top level race ever. Marc Marquez the Championship leader was one of the casualties coming off on corner 13 dislocating his shoulder, a further 40 riders would also go down here. Over a 150 crashes were recorded in all races over the weekend.
Lining up on the grid in pole position was Maverick Viñales after an eventful qualifying who was determined to beat his team mate Valentino Rossi to take third in the championship. The race for third place in the Championship was the race to watch. Marc Marquez with 321 points had already won the Championship ahead of Andrea Dovizioso in second place. 
Rossi had a poor qualifying and was down in 16 and with his team mate Viñales on pole, he had some work to do to secure that third place. Right from the start Rossi was on a mission gaining 10 places from the start as riders went down around him. Working his way through the field he briefly lead the race from Dovizioso when the red flag came out on lap 15 of 27.
As the race had not gone the distance required for a result the remaining riders would have to do it all again. The rain abated for a while and the race restarted. The race for third place in the Championship was now Rossi's as Viñales had come off at over 130mph in the first session chasing the number 46 rider. 
Unfortunately, for all the Rossi fans cheering him on from under their blue and yellow umbrellas he had a low-side, losing the back end in the wet conditions and was to end up in 13th. Dovizioso on his Ducati managed to stay in the saddle and went on to win the race ahead of Alex Rins on the Suzuki.    
The Australian Jack Miller was also another casualty going down on his Alma Pramac Racing Ducati. Miller was critical of the conditions before the race and was proved right as he was one of the first riders to be affected by the conditions, losing it on the first lap.
The highlight of the weekend belonged to KTM with wins in Moto2, 3 and a podium for Pol Espargaro in the main event; the first time KTM have managed podiums in all three races.
Can Öncü entering as a wildcard rider in the Moto3 on the Red Bull KTM Öncü became the youngest ever Grand Prix race winner. After putting the KTM on pole the 15-year-old beat Jorge Martin the current 2018 World Champion by over four seconds.
The Brits had a racer to cheer on the day - Scotsman John McPhee in his new distinctive helmet incorporating the St Andrews Cross with the Union Flag, completing the podium in the final Moto3 race of 2018.
The other Brits doing their best in the terrible conditions were Scott Redding who came 11th in the MotoGP with Bradley Smith just ahead in 8th. Cal Crutchlow didn’t compete - he is still recovering from his 150mph crash in Australia. 
As a foot note, Dani Pedrosa should be mentioned in his last GP ever with a 5th place finish. Having won seven times at Valencia, Pedrosa was the first of the new generation to challenge the dominance of Rossi but never quite managed a GP Championship win. He will have to settle for two 250 and one 125 championships.

With 31 race victories - that’s more than Schwantz, Rainey and Roberts Sr, he sits in 8th place in the world ranking along side Eddie Lawson who won the title four times. What a legend!
So what was Valencia like for photography this year? In short not great. You are restricted to just the one stand you have a ticket for and will need a long lens to get anything usable. Combine that with the low light due to the weather and you will be struggling. However, these restrictions are standard for most large events like F1 and MotoGP - you just have to roll with it.
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