Superbike Racing at Shannonville Motorsport Park

Jun 12, 2014 by Danny in Event

CSBK National Motorcycle Racing at Shannonville Motorsport Park

Last weekend I was given the opportunity to go shoot the CSBK racing at Shannonville Motorsport Park. It’s actually something I’ve been wanting to try my hand at for a while, so I jumped at the opportunity and ended up spending almost two full days shooting the races.

As you might expect, spending that much time shooting motorcycle racing (or any type of sporting event) means a LOT of photos. Too many really, but I wanted to try different techniques, angles, areas of the track and perspectives to see what worked out. The downside to all that playing around is having to sort through all the photos and pick just a handful to publish! I was hoping to get these done a couple of days ago, but found myself in the hospital instead. Anyway here are some of my favourites from the weekend.

I hadn’t actually been to the SMP before, so when I got there on the first morning, I wasn’t sure exactly where to go so I walked up into the grandstand to get a lay of the land. Within seconds a bike came down the straightaway right in front of me. As I watched the rider go by and approach the first turn, it was clear he was not going to make it. He went down sending the bike cartwheeling through the field with pieces flying all over the place as he skidded behind it. And all of this happened with my camera still tucked safely in it’s bag (and with my wide angle lens attached), so I quickly grabbed it out, changed the lens and grabbed a few shots of what I could. Not to worry, there would be plenty more action to shoot!

Once all the riders were off the track, I headed down to talk to one of the race officials to get some details on where I should go to shoot etc. and headed out on to the track to wait for the next set of bikes to come out. The Friday schedule was all practice and warm-up races, so it was a good opportunity for me to get a feel for the racing and try out some different types of shots. The problem was that because it was practice, not all the bikes were out and there wasn’t a lot of passing going on, so there was no real opportunity to get shots with multiple bikes in the frame. Nonetheless I got some great shots of the riders and so I decided to head back on Sunday, which was race day to get some (OK a LOT) more photos.

This crash happened right off the start. Not sure what happened but the rider went down almost immediately. Again, I was caught with my camera by my side, but I managed to get a few shots.

This crash happened right in front of me on the last turn into the straightaway. This time I had my camera at the ready, but with a 200mm lens attached, so I grabbed a few shots as the bike went sliding by. I wish I had had a wide lens on (when will they make an affordable 18-200 f/2.8 lens? Yeah I know… never) in which case you would also see the rider just out of frame. And don’t ask me why, at that moment, I decided to follow the bike and not the rider! Luckily there was no real damage and he picked up the bike and carried on.