Capturing motocross riders on camera is tricky, because you want them perfectly sharp but also need to try to convey movement (this is true for all motor sport photography). Here at the Extreme Enduro motocross event it was my first try at a decent two wheeled motor sport event and I learnt a lot. This riders eyes are perfectly sharp, but due to the high shutter speed it almost looks as though he is stood still. The shadow over his eyes nearly completely obscures the fact he is looking directly into my camera. Maybe next time I need to experiment more with flash and a circular polarising filter.

After deciding I wanted to do more motorsport photography I started looking around the internet for local motorsport events, in particular motorcross and motorbike races, something I had never photographed before this past weekend. Above is my most successful capture from The Tough One, an Extreme Enduro motorcross race at Back Cowm Quarry in Rochdale. Here we see the Clubman Class race in the morning. In the foreground is bike 38, a Gas Gas 300 riden by David Dudley from Ramsbottom. Behind him in the background is bike 52, a KTM 150 ridden by Harry Eccles, also from Ramsbottom. It was a massive challenge to get anything I was happy with in these wet and overcast conditions. Still I was happy I had gone and will hopefully make it to more motorcross events over the coming months.

One of the unique cars on the UK rally circuit is Andrew Burton’s Peugeot 306 Cosworth. Above we see him starting to power slide around one of the hairpin bends in Whinlatter Forest. This car is essentially a Peugeot 306 with Maxi ice racer body panels and a four wheel drive, mid-mounted 2.9 litre, 24 valve Cosworth V6 engine. It is a serious machine and a quick search on YouTube brings up some crazy videos. As Andrew was power sliding around this corner he kicked up over double the amount of gravel and stones of any other car on the course. So much so one piece of stone (about 1 or 2 inch cube) hit me right on the elbow – it was a small price to pay for the photograph below as he powered out of his slide just a second or two later. The camera and lens were fine and there was no blood drawn from my elbow. Needless to say, Andrew Burton went on to win the Malcolm Wilson 2011 rally.

The big battle in Nantwich was a one-off war re-enactment a few summers back where enthusiasts from around the country came together for a weekend which made a fantastic photographic opportunity. I find the horse’s expression in the foreground very amusing – crazy horse! It is a shame that the man on the white horse isn’t a little bit further to the right, so we could see more of what he is wearing, but I still felt that the photograph was worth sharing.