Folks,
As president of the Ducati Hypermotard Owners Club and editor of
http://hypermotards.net, I had the privilege (and luck) to get a full access media pass at the WSBK of Salt Lake City. Even, our most "Ducati connected" and venerated John Clelland was jealous... Before anything else I would like to thank John Gardner who manages the media center at Miller, this is the most beautiful and well equipped facility I have ever seen, the media facility provides an amazing view on the track, with AC, food and drinks!
It was a lot of fun to be part of the media/press as a photographer. I was looking forward to try my new Nikon D300 but of course it failed and had to go to repair a week before the race, so I borrowed my friend's entry level D60. Anyway, as soon as you mix with the pro and their their 30 pounds and 2 feet long lenses, you quickly become very humble... I have a lot of respects for these guys running around with all this heavy and awkward equipment on a huge track like this under intense heat. It is hard work with no rest, as soon as they get back in the media room, they have their big laptop and do immediate adjustment and cropping to upload in real time to all these web sites for our pleasure, big thanks to them!
Anyway, since I had no time sorting out the photos with all necessary editing, here they are "as is" out of the camera.
#1 My favorite photo of all could be
this one of Haga and the happy team after fixing his bike!
Among the Miller Facilities
slideshow photos
#2 make sure you get the right door...
#3 you remember our famous Hypermotard photo with Xaus sideways and thumb up.
Now, here is unhappy Xaus explaining how his BMW does not turn as well as the hypermotard:
"this f...... bmw f...... cannot f...... turn like a f...... ducati".
I don't speak Spanish but trust there was no need!
#4 did you say mandatory smoke check?
anyone wanna smoking hot Aprilla?
Among the Ducati Garage and Pit lane
slideshow photos, my favorites are:
#5 Congrats to the Xerox team for rebuilding that bike in a few hours,
it was amazing to see a choreography of up to 6 mechanics on the same bike at one point!!!
Among Ducati #84 Michel Fabrizio
slideshow photos, my favorites are:
#6 Michel Fabrizio is a hell of a funny guy, he was all relaxed and had a great race.
While all mechanics of Haga were struggling to make at least one of his two bikes work for the qualifiers, Fabrizio stood up in front of both his bike and started ""Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" or an Italian variation of it...
Also one of the FastDates.com hot girls stopped by to give a calendar to the riders.
Hago quickly said "arigatou" and focussed back on his bikes.
Michel had a big smile for her and when she turned her back, he ran to the toolbox to find one of these mirrors with a very long handle and chased her down the pit lane to see under the skirt....
of course where was my cmera when I need it...
When it came the podium, Michel pretty much had as much success as Ben as all the girls got crazy!
#7 At this point, Ben got a bit jealous and said to Michel:
"you are married"
pointing at an elusive ring that Michel should wear.
Michel replied "si si"
which meant who cares, shut up....
To be honnest, Michel had a few words in English which were: "English teacher dead..."
Cheers, Christian.
Great Pictures
. It is a box going around a track the bikes you can see the rider work the machine rubbing elbows with the other riders and sometimes more all at speeds that rival those box cars. What a fantastic sport.
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