Valentino Rossi celebrates his first victory from pole position since San Marino in 2009.
Jorge Lorenzo got a great start from 8th on the grid, but never looked liked troubling Rossi and Marquez at the front.
Marc Marquez felt aggrieved not to be credited with the win after the last lap move into the final chicane, which pushed Valentino Rossi wide and across the gravel trap.
Valentino Rossi broke the outright lap record on his way to pole for tomorrow’s Dutch TT at Assen.
Aleix Espargaro backed up his pole in Catalunya with another front row start.
Marc Marquez claimed the final spot on the front row.
Dani Pedrosa set a new outright lap record on his way to the fastest time on the opening day at Assen.
Jorge Lorenzo was unhappy with his pace at the end of the first day complaining of excessive corner exit wheelie and a lack of edge grip.
Valentino Rossi was quickest during this morning FP1 session.
For the final day of racing at the 2015 Isle of Man TT, and I headed to the north of the Island, as I had a brief to photograph the Lightweight race from the Ginger Hall section in Sulby. Just after the Sulby Straight, the Ginger Hall is very popular with fans, mainly due to the pub that gives the section its name.
After the Lightweight race, I drove the few miles to Ramsey and to the spectacular Milntown jump. From there, it was a brief stop at Parliament Square in the center of Ramsey before driving back to the Grandstand for the podium celebrations.
Above: John McGuinness plants a kiss on the Senior TT trophy.
The start of the Catalan GP is upon us, so I wanted to share with you all a little project Asphalt & Rubber has been working on with the better part of the English-speaking press in the MotoGP paddock — it’s a racing-focused podcast called The Paddock Pass Podcast.
We’ve been working on this podcast for the past few months, and after a few trial runs, we have something that we’re at least comfortable sharing with our readers.
That being said, we are well aware that we still have a few technical and production kinks to iron out. As such, think of this as a “public beta” that should improve rapidly over time.
The goal is to provide insightful and entertaining commentary and stories, something you can listen to on the way to work perhaps, which you wouldn’t necessary catch reading the headlines of the major mags and websites. For now, we’re focusing on MotoGP, though we have eyes on branching out to other championships and events.
Without further ado, David and Stephen have done a great job previewing this weekend’s Catalan GP (Tony is stuck at the Isle of Man, getting more content for us hopefully). Give it a listen, it’s only 35 minutes long or so, and give us your feedback in the comments.
We were treated to the best conditions of the 2015 Isle of Man TT for Wednesday’s racing. With that in mind, I decided to head for the hills and to Keppel Gate/Kate’s Cottage. Around three miles from the finish of the lap, Keppel Gate marks the point the riders start to descend from the mountain section.
As I’ve already mentioned the conditions were great with very little wind and warm sunshine. With the perfect conditions came the photographers worse nightmare, heat haze. I will therefore use that excuse for any pictures that look a little soft.
Above: The hard working volunteer marshalls at Kate’s Cottage, without them there would be no racing.
I headed to Quarry Bends today for the delayed Superstock race.
Just after the famous Ballacrye jump and about a mile from Ballaugh Bridge, the Quarry Bends series of corners are amongst the most important on the track as any speed lost through here will effect the riders’ speed onto the Sulby Straight and vital seconds can be lost.
Above: Lee Johnston took his debut TT podium in today’s Superstock TT race. He pipped James Hillier to third place by 3/10sec which is staggering statistic after 151 miles of high-speed racing.
After a delay of 24 hours due to high winds on the Isle of Man the Superbike TT finally got underway at 2pm on Sunday.
I had decided before this year’s TT that I would photograph the Superbike race from the Glen Helen section. Around 9 miles from the start, Glen Helen is a tight tree lined section that would provide plenty of variety for the six-lap race.
I hope you enjoy the following selection of photos from that excursion.
Guy Martin prepares his helmet before the Superbike practice session.
Bruce “Grizzly Adams” Anstey has had plenty to smile about so far during practice and looks like a threat in every class.
Dave Molyneux and Ben Binns about to head down Glencrutchy Road.
The weather was just abut perfect for Thursday evening’s practice session. I decided to take advantage of that and head for the mountain section.
The Gooseneck, which is around two miles outside of the northern town of Ramsey, is a cambered tight right-hander, and marks the start of the climb up the Mountain Road.
With a couple of friends in tow, we headed off with plenty of time to get to our chosen spot before the road closed. Unfortunately we only got as far as the Gooseneck as a road traffic accident had brought about an early closure to the Mountain Road.
While not the location we intended, we decided to stay put. Enjoy the photos!
