This weekend I headed out to Gopher Dunes in Courtland, Ontario for round 5 of the CMRC Monster Energy Motocross Nationals. This would be my second assignment covering the series for the magazine. After a very muddy race in Morden, I was happy to see a sunny weekend in the forecast leading up to the race. I think this was the first day so far this summer I felt comfortable enough in the forecast to leave my rain gear behind. I have shot at Gopher Dunes on several occasions over the past few years, including a few times this season already. I guess you could call it my home track as it’s the one I am most familiar with. I actually shot a segment for one of my mountain bike videos there over a decade ago. A mountain biker I was featuring, Doug Beattie, had his roots in moto and I wanted to include it in his story. Gopher is likely one of the most photographed tracks in the country and many of us “photogs” were excited for this event as the track would be running opposite its normal direction. Many of the shots I have wanted from there are back-lit and I was looking forward to capturing some new angles.

I was originally only going to head out on Sunday for the race but I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather and get the lifestyle shots I was after. With the weather being as unpredictable as it’s been this summer, I wanted to be sure I got some of the shots off my list in the can. I decided to make my way over to Gopher Dunes on Saturday and capture what I could. It was already 26 degrees as I left the city at 9:00 AM. It was going to be a scorcher of a weekend and I knew my story was going to be about the heat.

The first thing I noticed while making my way through the pits was how receptive everyone was. I was welcomed in, offered water, A/C in the big rigs, and even given a nice tee shirt from Kyle Murphy. People were asking me about my gear and for some photo tips, which I am always happy to help with. I really appreciated the welcome and it made it a lot easier for me to do my job. The new issue was out and lots of people were commenting on how they liked my shot of Shawn Maffenbeier from Morden. I was pretty stoked on how it turned out as well. The guys did an amazing job on the mag. I am making an effort to get around and introduce myself to any of the riders and team members I haven’t met yet. My goal is to bring more of a lifestyle feel to the series through my images and I won’t be able to do that until I have met everyone and know more about them. The action in motocross is pretty hard to miss and but I want to tell more of the story. I used two camera bodies this weekend, my Nikon D3 and D700. For capturing the shots in the pits I relied on my 85mm f1.4 and 200mm f/2. Here are some of my images from Saturday.

I had a fair amount of shots to go through and the heat had taken it’s toll on me so I decided to make my way back to Toronto for the night. It was 32 degrees when I left on Saturday and Sunday’s forecast called for even hotter temperatures. An evening with my family and a good night’s sleep sounded like the right call. I got up at o’dark:30 in order to get to Gopher in time for the riders’ meeting at 7:30 AM. It was an epic sunrise; a full moon in front of me to the west and a golden ball in the sky behind me. Seeing this made me even more anxious to get there in time as I knew the light would be killer, and it was.

As forecasted, is was insanely hot on Sunday. Everyone was seeking shade and trying to stay cool. It was a really tough day out on the track. I had parked close by and made a point of staying hydrated but being exposed for that long burnt me to a crisp – take me out, I’m done!. I shot most of the action with my Nikkor 400mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8 and 24-70mm f/2.8. I was really happy to have the 400mm for a lot of the shots and even used a TC-14E teleconverter in the whoops to reach the far end of the field. I was feeling the weight of it by the end of the day, but knew I had to kill it this round. Here is some of the action from the race.

It was a crazy hot day but I managed to get what I was after. Hard conditions like this make for interesting stories. It was great to see everyone and to meet so many new people. I had a good time exchanging war stories with Randy and Sean who were out there sniping with me on the track, as if we were on safari in the Serengeti.

If you’re part of the series in any way and haven’t already met me, please be sure to say hi and tell me your story. Stoked to be capturing the rest of this series. See you all in Ste. Julie.