I have no closer connection to any MotoGP team than the French Tech 3 squad, having interviewed Guy Coulon several times for MotoMatters.com and gotten to know the press officer and team principal fairly well last season. Now that they have two of the premier class’ three American riders, I watch their progress with even more interest and good wishes than last year. When Ben Spies collected his first MotoGP podium, and Tech 3’s first in quite a while, I was so happy to be there to see it that once again I had to thank my lucky stars for the opportunities I’ve had to do what I love to do.
Deciding where to go for a given on track session is often a matter of how the light is shining at that time of day, but during the race itself, as opposed to the practice sessions, there are concerns just as compelling, if not more so, than the light. The race is a story in itself, so you try to go to places around the track that will allow you to help tell that story with photographs, regardless of where the sun is. You start on the grid, then if you can, get to a view of the first corner or some other spot where part of the tale might unfold. At the end of the race you might try to shoot a celebratory wheelie if you can anticipate where the winning rider will do one, or you might try to get the winning bike crossing the finish line. If you feel like experiencing the photographer’s version of a mosh pit, you can get to Parc Ferme early enough for a spot around the fence that surrounds the top three bikes. This is where the riders are first interviewed after the race and the bikes locked down for inspection, and it’s not a place for the faint of heart. The media people swarm for photos and interviews and TV footage as the team members crowd in to congratulate their riders. It’s a mass of humanity!
Trying to get good photos here is a challenge because folks are packed in so tight you can barely move, and with one camera hanging off a shoulder, you’re trying with the other to get a shot that doesn’t have a bunch of anonymous arms in it while people are bumping into you. But if you’re brave, you might get your favorite photograph of the weekend, as shown above. As Ben Spies got off his Tech 3 Yamaha and moved toward his boss, the genial Herve Poncheral, the action at shoulder height was frenetic, so I dropped my D700 down low and shot up, just hoping something would be in focus other than Ben’s keister. As so often happens, the string of photos as I held the shutter down was blurry, blurry, blurry, SHARP, blurry, blurry. The sharp one caught Herve’s joy at Ben’s result so nicely, well, it’s better to be lucky than good from where I was standing. Of course, I did get the one anonymous arm, but nothing’s perfect.
Ben continues to impress in his rookie Grand Prix season, and continues to be such a genuinely nice young man that after a few words with him you sincerely want good things for him. It’s great to have another American rider who will shortly be challenging for the championship, and it’s great that this success is coming to such wonderful people who I am blessed to know, at least in my own small way.
