Hailwood Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 (edited) Another fantastic year of MotoGP at Indy in the books. The weather this year could not have been better, and the on-track action was quite good. This year I tried to find as many new spots to shoot from as I could, and wound up walking around the track quite a bit more than in years past.Even with the Indy fencing there are great opportunities all through the infield, and I'm pretty happy with what I was able to get.Valentino Rossi coming out of T4:Race winner Dani Predrosa coming into T12:Hayden getting around some backmarkers in FP2:Up close and personal with Dovi:Working on my panning with Andrea Ianonne @ 1/80Not a great weekend for old Cal, but he was pretty quick when he could stay on the bike:Moto2 race winner Marc Marquez tipping it into T4:Casey Stoner through T6. He had an absolutly heroic ride on Sunday after that massive QP crash:Moto2 runner-up Pol Espargaró:Ben Spies had a terrible race with more bad luck after a really strong showing all weekend:Marquez absolutely dominated the Moto2 field. Seeing him on a MotoGP bike next year is going to be really great.Downtown was as great as ever. Indy really knows how to put on an event: Edited August 20, 2012 by Hailwood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoblick Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 great pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmh_sprint Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 I couldn't agree more about the weekend and racing. I bet there are going to be some serious conversations between Dorna and IMS about the track conditions. There were more riders down on Saturday than the last 4 years combined. I wish Columbus would talk to Indy about how to hold events. Downtown Indy is always a treat, even more so this year with all the GenCon folks walking around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hailwood Posted August 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 I couldn't agree more about the weekend and racing. I bet there are going to be some serious conversations between Dorna and IMS about the track conditions. There were more riders down on Saturday than the last 4 years combined. I wish Columbus would talk to Indy about how to hold events. Downtown Indy is always a treat, even more so this year with all the GenCon folks walking around.Definitely agree about the surface - I felt like I was watching the old 500's there for awhile.That many high sides isn't good for anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fox_racing_guy Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Great stuff as always Will! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkow97 Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 they just don't ride on it often enough to build up any rubber. That's literally the only motorcycle event they host.The infield is never used. I walked across the infield track during the Indy 500 last year, and it's not surprising that it's kind of crap. They have maintenance trucks (mostly picking up trash) leaking oil all over it, and they just don't treat it like a race track so much as a road.Spies had to be beyond pissed. I'm not one to go so far as to say Yamaha is sabotaging him, but talk about bad luck... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motociclista Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Your photos are excellent, but I wouldn't say the "on track action was good." I enjoy just about any day at the races, but relatively speaking the weekend (on the track) was a real let down. Nicky Hayden trying hard as usual and out with a concussion. Stoner hurt and unable to compete for a win. Rossi clearly not wanting to be the other guy who hurts himself trying to ride the Ducati at a pace it can't sustain, cruising around as last factory bike. Spies looked very promising until his engine exploded and his Yamaha looked more like a mosquito-fogger truck than a MotoGP bike. That left only Lorenzo with a chance to challenge Pedrosa, and his tire choice ended that. Hard to say it's a great race when as of lap three only two people have a shot at winning and by the end the margin between first and second is ten seconds.If you're rooting for the home team, that's a finish of 13th, 15th, 16th, DNF and DNF for the American riders. Probably the single most feel-good moment of the weekend was Steve Rapp getting 1 GP point. He'll always be in the record books.Moto2 was just as big a run-away by Marquez. Even the XR1200 race was a runaway by XR1200 standards.Now the Moto3 race was a good one, I'll give you that.I always enjoy a day at the races, but with that many people hurt and very few battles for position, it's hard to say the action was great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkow97 Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 I'm not sure Spies would have ended up on the podium. He obviously had the pace to be there, but I don't think he was looking after the tires enough to sustain that pace race distance.He might have sneaked away with 3rd, not that I wouldn't love to believe he would have been on top of the box if not for the engine failure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e-flores Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Great shooting as always hailwood. I didn't have a chance to shoot this year I opted to take the wife instead of the camera, I seriously wish I had both though. The conditions couldn't have been any better for shooting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblosser Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Very nice pics!from my vantage point (watching for about 15 minutes on the Speed channel) there were about 4 spectators.was it really that empty, or did Speed just happen to show all of the empty stands and none that had any people in them?not hating, it just really looked like no one was there, which would be a shame if you're a fan and want to see it come back next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hailwood Posted August 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Other than Marquez destroying the field, I thought the podium battle in Moto2 race was pretty good.Unfortunately you're right about the GP race itself. The nature of the track, and honestly the series itself, currently is such that the 5-way battles for the win just aren't going to happen with any regularity.Hopefully the series makes it to the Austin track in the next couple of years. From what I've seen of the layout, I'm hoping it will make for some more exciting racing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hailwood Posted August 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Very nice pics!from my vantage point (watching for about 15 minutes on the Speed channel) there were about 4 spectators.was it really that empty, or did Speed just happen to show all of the empty stands and none that had any people in them?not hating, it just really looked like no one was there, which would be a shame if you're a fan and want to see it come back next year.It's more the venue than anything else. Indy is really meant to host 300,000+ in the oval grandstands, so when they have 65,000 for the GP (a respectable crowd) with a large number in the infield, it looks a bit empty.Walking around the track itself, it didn't feel empty at all, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidersDiscount Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 ^this. A lot of the people were in the upper grandstands, in the shade, and were a bit hard to see with the panning camera. I can't imagine what the Europeans think seeing that many empty seats. Good shots as usual! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmh_sprint Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 It's more the venue than anything else. Indy is really meant to host 300,000+ in the oval grandstands, so when they have 65,000 for the GP (a respectable crowd) with a large number in the infield, it looks a bit empty.Walking around the track itself, it didn't feel empty at all, IMO.Agreed. I think the crowd was actually larger this year than the past few years.Also, I was remiss in telling Hailwood how great his pictures were in my first post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowdog Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 That crash by Stoner was narly!! huge props to him for getting up and racing like he did on Sunday after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrant Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 I wish Columbus would talk to Indy about how to hold events. Downtown Indy is always a treat, even more so this year with all the GenCon folks walking around.GenCon, I think it was a Blake Shelton concert sat night, some national swim meet, and then Moto GP.It made for quite a diverse crowd walking around Meridian Street. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helmutt Posted August 22, 2012 Report Share Posted August 22, 2012 That crash by Stoner was narly!! huge props to him for getting up and racing like he did on Sunday after that.No doubt, to man up and ride after that bad of a highside ( not to mention his physical damage ) is beyond what most people would consider to be "brink of retirement" as a GP rider. Sucks he's leaving, that kind of heart isn't as abundant as it used to be. How badly I wish GP would add another eastern U.S. track to the season so we'd still have the option to attend without taking a week off work to drive west, or invest in airfare:mad:I'm really hoping they give the CRT's more advantages to become competitive instead of the idea in taking power away from the Proto teams. I truly hate hearing about sanctions wanting to cut nuts from race machines to "help" the alternatives in the field, when they should be looking at advancement for the lesser class of bikes to help them keep up Haven't read up on any new news about what will happen, does anyone know if they are actually going to limit the prototypes vs. increasing the CRT options? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Copeland Posted August 22, 2012 Report Share Posted August 22, 2012 Great pics !!Stoner's a Beast for even riding after that nasty highside in qualifying! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loch Rob Posted October 14, 2012 Report Share Posted October 14, 2012 Nice pics Hailwood! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.