Air time Kenny Roberts-style

I can’t get enough of pictures that capture a specific, hard to define moment; the successful encapsulation of the absolute balls-to-the-wall, life or death commitment that riding a motorbike as fast as possible involves. 

We all know. We’ve all been there – even if it’s only a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

Maybe (for us mere mortals) it’s that rapidly, yet unexpectedly, tightening left-hand bend with a shitty, mud-covered veneer just at the apex. The quickening heart beat. That instant nauseous feeling. Imagine how much you’d treasure a picture of yourself in that situation if there happened to be a photographer standing at that corner...

Or how about the feeling of absolute, beautiful alone-ness you experience when you tuck behind the bubble, stretch the cable to the max and wait for the sweep of the rev counter needle to nudge towards the red wedge before rapidly hooking another higher gear? 

It’s a simple poetry that is best described and best captured by the milli-second snap of a shutter and often best translated using the old medium of 35mm film. Digital stuff? No. Not the same. It’s too open to the corruption of post-shot Adobe manipulation. 

The real skill lies in sensing the moment, being in the right place at precisely the right time and displaying your razor sharp reaction times for all to see on celluloid. Old-school, pre auto-focus 35mm photography is far more dependant on reaction time. Raw. Of the moment. Earthy. It seems ironic that the best catalogue of this work is now digitally re-enacted on the www. For this, we should be thankful.

And the sharp-eyed, old-school snapper captures the razor-sharp rider or the crowning, defining moment of that rider’s absolute abilities once in maybe a million attempts. Every great photographer has probably just one defining shot. This makes those rare moments of shutter speed magic all the greater. 

We have the most excellent bubblevisor to thank for bringing this incredible shot of King Kenny at the 1976 Peoria TT to our attentions. His tortured SOHC TX650 (bored out to 750cc) Yamaha at a seemingly impossible angle, battling hard against the factory Harley flat trackers in a run of success that would establish the Japanese brand in the USA once and for all. Kenny was double AMA Grand National Champion in 73/74 on these Shell Thuet prepared bikes. 

Roberts rode with his heart on his sleeve be it on dirt or tarmac and this picture sums that do-or-die attitude up perfectly.

Seen a shot that defines a moment in time? Keep 'em coming….

By mark forsyth