Motorsports

Larry Pegram Lean – AMA Sign – at Hearland Park Topeka, Image © 2009 Paul Danger Kile http://dangerismymiddlename.com

I really like this one. There is so much to see in it: the worn knee pucks, the details on the Sidi boots, the beautiful blues on the titanium exhaust, the miss-matched red paint, the top of the chain losing slack because Larry is opening the throttle, the fact that the Leo Vince exhaust ad off-track overpowers the Akrapovic logos on the bike. You can even read the Ohlins logo on the forks (in higher res), and brembo logo on the brakes. Larry leans so far that his tires are worn in places that aren’t even meant to touch the ground.

Ducati left US racing, for the most part, so what did Larry do?  He build a Ducati team. If Ducati ever comes back full-tilt, then they will already have a team that they can promote to factory-level support. This is what Micheal Jordan (yes, that one) should have been doing instead of using suasion to change the rules.

My lenses are cheap, my camera focuses very slowly, and neither the body or the lenses have anti shake features. My best shots involve a ton-of-luck. I see the pros not taking pictures of every bike, and I just don’t get it. Riding like this is amazing. It should be captured and appreciated again-and-again.

I am really proud of this shot. Interestingly, it almost looks as though Jason is looking down.

Valentino Rossi does look at the ground midcorner. When asked why he appears to be doing-so, Rossi said something like, “I look down to see where I am in the corner. I don’t need to see where I am going. I already know where I am going.” Kids do not try this at home.

Jason DiSalvo at AMA Pro Tornado Nationals, Image © 2009 Paul Danger Kile http://dangerismymiddlename.com

I was taking pictures from one of the best spectator locations on Sunday: the hill inside turn 12.  Just then we heard the announcer say: “We have a red flag condition”.  The ambulance immediately entered, and crossed, the track at turn 11.  This is while the leaders were on the back straight approaching turn 10 at approximately 130 MPH!  The ambulance then turned left on the far side of the track, and started driving down the track.  The leaders approached the ambulance at a high rate of speed, braked, and “hand signaled”.

Ricky Parker’s (No. 96 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) motorcycle was being loaded onto a trailer just past turn 14. I took a photo: you can clearly see the Roadracing World Action Fund provided Airfence standing sentry behind the trailer. In spite of this accident Ricky Parker somehow finished fourth and became the new SuperSport West Champion.

Here are my photos:

Heartland Park kept the old turns after revamping the track, so there are multiple configurations possible, although all versions are counterclockwise. They use cones to designate which version of the turns that racers should use. The new turn 1 and 2 were used for the Tornado National, but the new turn 8 was not. Many of the wall segments near turns 1 and 2 were removed. That straight part that crosses the road track between turns 1 and 2 is the road at the end of the drag strip. Heartland Park can hold a dirt track race at the same time as another event, but drag races and road races cannot occur at the same time.

Here is the new Heartland Park Topeka aerial map (link), unfortunately they did not label the turns on this version. The ambulance entered just above the “o” in “Registration Building” on this new map.

Sadly, AMA Pro is no longer running on the road track: this was the only year in recent history that they have. This is in spite of the fact that the AMA Pro announcers went out of their way to say how much was changed in the interest of motorcycle safety: after Mat Mladin chose to go home instead of race, and then announced his retirement. Mladin is the winning-est rider in AMA Pro roadracing history, so his decisions impacted everyone’s behavior that weekend.