World Super Bikes

Donington Park

2nd - 4th July 2012

I look forward to photographing big motorsports events like the World Super Bikes (WSB) it’s an absolute pleasure for me for many reasons. The racers in your viewfinder are the best in the world at their chosen sport and are usually seen on your TV racing at iconic tracks from around the world.

They are generally celebrities in their own right so are instantly recognisable even in full race gear therefore make great subjects to capture.

The second reason I love big events is the atmosphere, there is nothing like a big crowd to heighten the excitement. Unfortunately the atmosphere was a bit lacking at the Donington Round of the WSB this year.

As we are all aware the crowd restrictions only allow 4000 fans trackside so there wasn’t the razzamatazz that you would have experienced at a major pre-COVID event. 

Having said that, watching Redding, Rae and the rest pushing their bikes to the limits and beyond more than made up for lack of atmosphere.

WSB has dropped off the radar for a lot of super bike fans so crowds were not what they used to be, but in recent years interest seems to be on the rise again.

On the previous time that we attended the atmosphere was good, with a lot of knowledgeable fans supporting the many top flight British racers. Next year we will be able to see if the attendance numbers rise, reflecting the growing interest on social media.

So going back to my first reason why I like shooting big events, my shooting buddy for the World Super Bikes has an uncanny ability to spot a celebrity from a 1000 yards.

In between races John Laverty was randomly standing next to us. John is Eugene Laverty's brother who races in World Super Bikes.

Ok ,so maybe not a celebrity but definitely interesting, that’s a little random but wait there is more.

Totally unrelated to the Laverty incident and only five minutes later an old boy popped up next to us chatting to a few fans.

I glanced at him but was concentrating on the action on track.

Out of the corner of my eye I see my shooting buddy point at his camera, then at the old guy, who gives the thumbs up and smiles down the lens, pictures are taken.

I have to ask, “who’s is that?” “Roger Marshal “ what, I take a second look, the moustache has gone but the nose gives it away.

One of the great racers from the golden age of racing is standing on the banking at the Foggy Esses enjoying the action.

The stories he must have about racing the factory Heron Suzuki and partying with Haslam, Sheene, Gardner, Grant, Dunlop and the rest must be amazing.

So top tip when attending a World sports event is to keep your eyes peeled off track as well as where the action is happening. You never know who will pop up. 

So going back to the track, what could we expect to see as spectator photographers over the weekend? World Super Bikes were the number one reason we were there, they only visit the UK once in this season so it’s kind of a must do.

The number of British racers now competing is good to see so if you are a Redding or Rea, Haslam or Lowes (other British racers are available to support) fan you are fortunate they are at the top of their game and riding the best super bikes available. 

Talking about the bikes, it’s great to see different manufacturers fighting it out for the top spot.

Kawasaki have been the dominant force for some time but Yamaha are starting to shine as they have done in MotoGP and British Super Bikes. 

The Bavarian machines shouldn’t be counted out. #66 Tom Sykes is taking the new Motorrad BMW to the fight like Hicky is doing in British Super Bikes. Sykes was fourth in race one, getting back on the podium in race two in third place.

His best result was second behind championship leader Rea in super pole with his BMW teammate #60 Van Der Mark third.

The Ducatis are also in the championship mix after two wins at the previous round at Misano, but it looks more like it’s going to be wins for Redding and Rinaldi at the right track, as long as they get the setup correct.

Scott Redding admitted he made the wrong tyre choice and was struggling for grip all weekend, and for me he didn’t look the confident rider of a few years ago, crashing out in race one and finishing fourth in race two.

Im sure he will be back challenging at the top next time out, he is that sort of guy.

With two full races and one sprit race, plus loads of practice and qualifying over the weekend, the racers were out on track a lot. #31 Garrett Gerloff set the pace in the free practice, but it was the usual suspects that dominated with Redding a little off the pace.

#54 Toprak Razgatlioglu won the two main races, with Jonathan Rea winning the sprint race. Toprak now leads the championship with 183 points, Rea is on 181 and Redding third with 117.

Support Races

If you are a cup half full type of person COVID-19 has brought one good thing to this meeting, the support races.

With travel restrictions in place a more domestic race card was put together, with the British Pirelli Junior SuperStock, Ducati TriOptions and the HEL Junior SuperSport championships holding a round at this world event.

It would have been good to have the World Support racers as well but we will have to wait until next year for them.

We saw most of these racers at Oulton Park supporting the British Super Bikes so knew who the front runners would be. However, as we had seen in the WSB, the tricky weather conditions of humidity to pouring rain would have an effect on the racers.

In the Pirelli National Junior Superstock Championship the man to watch is Jack Nixon on the Santander Salt Yamaha. However, it was  #91 James Alderson who started 13 on the grid in race one that took the checkered flag.

In race two 22 Zak Corderoy took the win with championship leader #14 Jack Nixon taking the final race. #6 George Stanley must get a special mention, with two second places out of the three races.

The Ducati TriOptions had two races over the weekend with 43 racers starting. Sporting the number 1 plate, defending champion Josh Day on the Host-it.co.uk Racing Team machine made it two from two. 

The last domestic race series racing was the HEL Junior SuperSport. This championship is for young riders aged 13 -22 years racing production machines from 300cc – 500cc.

#69 Tom Booth-Amos on the Heligan Group Kawasaki took race one, two and four with #52 Kam Dixon taking race three to lead the championship. #93 Mikey Hardie also makes the editorial cut, just because a friend of a friend knows him. 

So, onto the Yamaha Cup. There were a lot of blue bikes racing very closely. That’s it that’s all I have, it’s not a race series I’m familiar with.

I presume it’s similar to the talent cup where all the racers get the same kit and battle it out on skill, not the size of the bank balance the team has. 

It wasn’t just two wheels taking to the track at Donington over the weekend, the FIM Sidecars were screaming around for the fist time in years. I will admit I’m not the greatest fount of knowledge in this area as well, but some information has rubbed off on me over the years. 

 know our domestic track and road racers, and when it comes to the sidecar I know what I like. Left hand corners is where you need to be for the action as the passenger tries to keep the car down, or not.

Two races for the sidecars with #6 Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement taking the first race by a good margin. It should be noted that the official programme had Charlie Richardson as the passenger.

He could not make the Le Mans round so it was Emmanuelle Clement who took the ride, and as they have now finished in the top three in all the races so far, she will be Todd Ellis's passenger for the rest of the World Championship.

Richardson will continue to compete with Ellis in the British Championship.

In race two, the Swiss pair and championship leaders Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries had a disaster and didn’t even make the grid as their engine died on start up, so the race was now wide open.

Crossing the finish line first after sitting in third for most of the race #29 Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood would take a home win. The next round of FIA Sidecars will be at the Cathedral of Speed, Assen in two weeks.

Photographic Post Script 

So that concludes our annual visit to the World Super Bikes, and what can we take away? Well, 

Covid-19 restrictions aside, it is a great and only opportunity to capture the top racers in World Super Bikes, unless you grab your passport and do some serious travelling, which is difficult in these times.

If you are trying to put together a varied set of motorsports images, having celebrity racers in your portfolio is not a bad thing. However, Donington isn’t the best place to take photos. You are a long way from the action, or there is thick fencing, but it can be done with the right kit.

I was fortunate enough to have the use of a new Nikon D850 for the weekend. The early D8xx series is not generally seen as a sports camera, with slow shutter speed and massive files it’s more suited to landscape and portraits.

The D850 46 megapixel camera is now a serious contender for space in my camera bag. It shoots at a great frame rate if you like to spray and pray. I don’t, but for me two other elements stood out.

You can crop the images so much with out loss of detail. I was going for long range shots I could never get away with my current kit; this helps a lot at tracks like Donington. Second is the focusing, as there were more focusing points and modes than I knew what to do with, and a brilliant joystick to very quickly move your focus point.

I was picking out individual riders from the pack easily and got some crazy sharp panning shots.

To summarise, the Nikon D850 is an amazing camera that enhances my average photography skill set and lets me get shots that had been unobtainable previously.

But the cost is quite substantial, £2500 is a lot to spend on a camera body but as my shooting buddy keeps telling me, you are only on this planet a short time and you can’t take it with you. Until next time stay safe.

Thanks go out to Michael Wincott Photography, DEEGEE Photography David Gowshall and RPW Photography for the images included in this report. You can check them out by following the links below.

You can see more of David Gowshalls work here