Scott Jones

On June 30th I wrote about the Riders benefit auction at MDK in Redwood City, which was a kind of preliminary event in preparation of the Day of Stars on the Thursday before the USGP at Laguna Seca, where a much larger crowd of racing enthusiasts was anticipated. For that event I’d donated an 18×24” print of my favorite image from Qatar, shown here. That’s Don Emde holding the print up (photo by Jules Cisek / popmonkey.com):

I’d hoped that Randy Mamola would be able to get Valentino Rossi to sign the print, which would greatly increase its value to MotoGP fans. The auction began with a Riders special edition t-shirt, signed by James Toseland, which was followed by items signed in turn by the visiting MotoGP riders Nicolo Canepa, Sete Gibernau and Gabor Talmasci. It was a great sign that these items were going for big bucks, hundreds of dollars for a signed t-shirt! My anticipation grew as the moment of my photograph’s appearance grew nearer.

Eventually I was asked to join the action on the stage and make a brief comment about the photograph. I don’t remember what I said, but no one pointed at me and giggled so I guess it was okay. Randy brought the auctioneer aside and asked him not to mention the plan to get Rossi to sign the print; he wanted to wait until later in the bidding to throw that in as an incentive. The guys then did a very kind job of talking up the image, pointing out that it was a rare Monday evening photograph, due to a race being postponed until Monday for the first time in Grand Prix history. They also drew attention to the glowing brake rotors, something visible only at the season’s single night race. The bidding climbed steadily to $1,000 before Randy threw in the promise to get Rossi to sign the print. I was amazed that the photograph had attracted a bid that high until later, when my wife told me that the sotto voce instruction not to mention the signature could actually be heard in the audience. Oh well. The bids kept coming, though, and finally topped out at $1,600! I was extremely pleased that some of my work (okay, with Rossi’s signature), would bring it that much money for Riders for Health. Including the other two prints sold that week, my personal total was $2,301 to Riders. What a great feeling! Best of all, my wife and daughter were there in the audience to see Daddy’s moment of glory. I heard later that Rossi did in fact sign the photograph, which is another landmark for me. What an honor! If I ever get to meet him, now I’ll have something to talk about.

Again, here is the link to the new Riders video, just in case you meant to check it out but it slipped your mind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrhjKTWyIfs&feature=PlayList&p=495ECFB031B90461&index=1