MotoGP

Silverstone

27th - 29th August 2021 

Photographing the British Round of the British MotoGP at Silverstone should be on the bucket list of all spectator photographers even if they have just a passing interest in two wheel motorsports. 

The event is not just a race it’s a festival, it’s a party, it’s a weekend of celebrating the best riders in the world on the most extreme motorcycles. But what makes it a must not miss event?

The riders that I see racing on the TV at venues all over the world only come to the UK once and will only be here for a short period so it’s your only opportunity to see them live.

The chance to photograph them and capture them pushing the bikes to the limit is one that you should have in your portfolio. Some of my best motorsport images feature MotoGP riders.

It’s not just about the racing, the 67,000 strong crowd that packed out the venue, flags waving, air horns blasting, smoke bombs going off, all adds to the atmosphere and to the experience.

Now if you aren’t a massive MotoGP fan you will probably still be aware of the top riders. Valentino Rossi is one of the greatest riders of all time with nine world championships to his name, seven in MotoGP.

He is now at the end of his competitive racing career, retiring at the end of this season so this would be the last chance for the fans in the UK to see him race.

And boy did they want to see him that one last time? They turned out in huge numbers. Decked out in Rossi’s trademark yellow and sporting doctor's coats and goat masks (GOAT, greatest of all time).

They turned up in their thousands, letting off smoke bombs and cheering every time he went past. 

During qualifying it was all going so well for Rossi - he would be 8th on the grid for race day, but could he end upon the podium in his last race in the UK?

In short no, the SRT Yamaha is not the best bike on the grid and he slowly dropped down the order on race day ending up in 18th, second last as the flag fell for the last time as the number 46 bike crossed the line. 

Were the yellow army disappointed? Probably but they were in good spirits, cheering every time he came round and giving him a rousing send off on the slowing down lap.

Another rider getting a big cheer on every lap, even though he was In last place and a fair distance behind Rossi, was English racer Jake Dixon who was Rossi’s team mate for the British MotoGP.

Dixon, making his MotoGP debut having moved up from Moto2, he was keeping the seat warm for the injured Franco Morbidelli on the Petronas SRT Yamaha.

It has been confirmed that Jake will keep the ride for the next round at Aragon as Morbidelli is still not fit to ride.

Another British rider racing was Cal Crutchlow standing in for Maverick Viñales.

Viñales had been sacked by his Yamaha team after the previous round for allegedly trying to sabotage his bike by over revving the engine, Viñales and his team hadn’t been getting on for some time and he was due to leave at the end of the season anyway.

Cal's team mate was Championship leader Fabio Quartararo riding the number 20 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP bike, he was amazing to watch.

He was the most extreme rider out on track, crossing the bike up on the exits to corners and dropping it so low he was scraping his shoulder protector on his race suit.

This extreme riding style is all well and good but he was on the edge a lot. Coming into the Club complex of corners I could see it was going to be a fast turn in.

It looked faster than any others we had seen in the free practice sessions. It was too fast and he lost control in dramatic style.

Limping away from the crash with the help of a marshall, I thought that was the last we were going to see of Quartararo all weekend.

How wrong was I? Before the end of the session, with the crowd cheering him on, he was out on his second bike chucking into Club like nothing had happened!

Tough guys these MotoGP riders!

That wasn’t the last time the crowd would rise up and cheer Quartararo. They would also do it on the last lap in the race as he took the chequered flag to be crowned the winner of the British GP.

Alex Rins was second and Aleix Espargaro was third.

Quartararo is now 65 points ahead of Joan Mir in the championship standings with Johann Zarco in third.

If you made the journey to Silverstone to watch another well known rider Marc Marquez, you would have been very disappointed.

Marquez had a bit of a coming together with Jorge Martin at the start of the race which pushed Marquez wide.

He didn’t like this and decided to give Martin some payback, diving up the inside of him. This didn’t go too well for either of the riders as they crashed out on lap one.

Marquez's second crash of the weekend - he had a spectacular get off at 170mph in FP1.

In the Moto2 race there was another British rider to cheer on - Sam Lowes on the number 22 Elf Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex.

He had looked good in qualifying even with the odd trip to the kitty litter but still managed a front row start in P3.

The Moto2 18 laps race which equates to 106km was a great to watch with a right battle between the pole sitter #72 Marco Bezzecchi, who would end up 2nd #9 Jorge Navarro 3rd and eventual winner #87 Remy Gardner.

In the early stages Lowes had delighted the crowd by leading the race but couldn’t hold back Bezzecchi and Gardner, eventually coming home in fourth place.

In the Moto3 we had another home grown rider to cheer, John McPhee. Qualifying in 15 he had to stand the bike up on the first lap and ended up in last place.

He put his head down and crossed the line in 11th place. A sterling effort however, he was dropped down another place for exceeding track limits on the last lap.

John McPhee won’t be racing Moto3 in the next round at Aragon as he will be moving up a class to take Jake Dixon’s ride in Moto2, who I’ve mentioned will be staying temporarily in the MotoGP class. 

In the Moto3 race it was three Italian riders on the podium. #55 Romano Fenati was first, #23 Niccolo Antonelli second and #7 Dennis Foggia third.

McPhee has nothing to lose by missing a round. He is in 16th place in the championship, 148 points behind the leader Pedro Acosta.

I must comment on this quality Spanish rider, Pedro Acosta. By his standards he didn’t do very well at Silverstone, recording an 11th place in Moto3 after struggling all weekend.

However, he leads the championship and for me looks like a future MotoGP champion.

I love his riding style and the maturity he displays during races (Marquez please take note) and as such a young rider he looks to have a promising career ahead of him.

At only 17 he came second in his debut Moto3 race then went onto taking three first places, the first time anyone has had 4 debut podiums in succession in this class or in GP history.

The best race so far for me was in Doha where he started from the pit lane overtaking the whole field to win, displaying amazing riding skills in the process. Keep an eye on this racer he is going places.

So as one Spanish star rises an Italian one fades away. I was glad to see the Doctor race for the last time in MotoGP but I don’t think it will be the last time I see VR46 on a race bike.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed and maybe in the future the Revival beckons for retired racers and celebrities, Rossi ticks both boxes. It would be great to see him on one of his Championship winning bikes again.

Lord March is probably booking him as you read this and I'm sure he will see him again joining the likes of MotoGP ledgend Giacomo Agostini and petrolhead Rowan Atkinson tearing round the Sussex country side. I'm sure he will get on well with Mr Bean considering some of antics the Vale got up to over the years. 

Arrivederci Valentino.

Thanks go out to Gary Bailey for the support and RPW Photography for helping out this report with some great images, riding with me to Silverstone and supplying the Snacks!