9 Hours and 11 Minutes with Scott Russell, Danny Eslick and Jake Holden

Photographing AMA Pro Superbike Racers

for the Seattle 100 road course endurance event fundraiser benefiting Camp Korey

 

Local motorcycle instruction school 2Fast recently held the 8th Annual Seattle 100, a road course endurance event sponsored by Ducati Seattle.  This year’s event, the Ducati Seattle – Seattle100 Charities benefactor was Camp Korey, a camp on an 818-acre dairy farm in Carnation, Washington that provide free programs to children living with serious and life-altering medical conditions and their families (*read more about Camp Korey below the images).

To rev up donations and participation, 2Fast owner Mark DeGross invited some of the world’s best motorcycle riders to join in as a VIP guest. Riders from regional Puget Sound were able to ride along side (and try to keep up with) World Superbike and AMA Superbike Champion Scott Russell (aka Mr. Daytona), Michael Jordan Motorsports racer Danny Eslick, GEICO AMA Motorcycle Road Racing team rider Dane Westby, and SBK Factory Rider Jake Holden.

Ducati Seattle wanted to do something extraordinary this year, so their Special Projects Group (SPG) customized an 1199 Panigale for Mr. Russell to ride at the event held at Pacific Raceways.  The SPG Seattle team comprised of Mike Castro – SPG’s Chief Mechanic and Engine Builder, Jon Schiereck – engine builder and electronics specialist, Zack Gordon – director of performance, and Don Beck – president of Ducati Seattle, worked round the clock before the event to ensure the completion of the superbike.

The Ducati 1199 Panigale is an exotic Italian beauty with a vicious beast hiding beneath it’s skin, and is not for the faint of heart. This particular 1199 Panigale, however, has been enhanced with the SPG ECU Flash with revised fly-by-wire throttle ratios, fuel and ignition mapping. The suspension has revalved forks and shocks by KFG Racing and it has XT Racing data acquisition system installed and is capable of 200+mph, makes 210 horse power and has 105 lbs. of torque.

The SPG Seattle 1199 Panigale is, quite frankly, wicked.

The Ducati Seattle team invited me to photograph Scott with their bike on the day of the event, and being an environmental commercial portrait photographer, I went with a lifestyle shot on the track. The track was hot all day, so to achieve the delicate timing of a safe shoot, I waited on turn 5 for an hour at high-noon until the track was shut down for a 15 minute break. During those 15 minutes, Scott arrived with the bike, the SPG team drove down with a stand, I had the corner worker throw down his flags to hold my light stands from blowing away and I got the portraits needed of the Superbike and Scott on track in 11 minutes. Honestly, I haven’t been that nervous since photographing Lewis Black! But once the shoot was done, I had the great fun of getting to hang out with the Ducati Seattle team where Jake Holden and Danny Eslick popped in from time to time, and allowed me to snap a few candid portraits of them. Thanks guys!!!

A big thanks and shout out to Jason Tanaka Photography for helping me with location scouting and scheduling first thing in the morning. He got all the hot action shots on the track that day and you can check out those images on his website here: http://photos.jasontanaka.com/2-Fast/July-27th-2013-Seattle100

Special thanks to Danny Eslick for giving me my first superbike ride on a track! #BucketListCheck

   

   

  

*About Camp Korey’s Mission

“Camp Korey’s mission is to honor the courage, strength, and determination of children living with serious and life-altering medical conditions and their families; and to provide them with a safe, friendly, medically sound environment in which to simply have fun and be kids.

We are committed to providing care and programming that emphasizes safety, love, respect and empowerment. At Camp Korey, campers have the freedom they need to challenge themselves and reclaim their childhood, and families receive the respite and support they need to heal.

All Camp Korey programs are free to children and families.”

You can still DONATE to the Seattle 100 fundraiser benefiting Camp Korey HERE!!

 

 

Photography details

Camera: Nikon D700

Lens:
Nikon AF 50mm 1.4 – Aperture: f/4.5 – Shutter: 1/250 – ISO: 400
Nikon 18-70 3.5/4.5g Ed-if Af-s Dx – Aperture: f/4.5 – Shutter: 1/125 – ISO: 400
Nikon 60mm 2.8 Nikon 70-210mm 4.0/5.6

Lighting:
Natural Light
Nikon SB-800 Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras
Paul C. Buff 86″ Silver PLM™ parabolic umbrella

Filters:
B + W 67mm #110 3.0 (1000x) Neutral Density Glass Filter

Bags:
Think Tank Photo Airport Security V 2.0 Rolling Camera Bag
Think Tank Photo Airport AirStream Rolling Camera Bag
Think Tank Photo Travel Pouch—Large
Think Tank Photo AA Battery Holder

Camera Strap:
BlackRapid Floral Woman’s Strap (RS-W1F) (Black)

Accessories:
Nice Industries Glow Blower Nasty Clamp