Photographers Blog

Highspeed spills are an occupational hazard for motorbike racers and have produced some spectacular images which are rather more memorable than the standard knee-on-the-ground-diagonal-bike- frozen-action kind. This sequence by Toru Hanai of Spanish MotoGP rider Dani Pedrosa falling off his Honda bike during the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi is a case in point.

Not only is it a toe-curlingly fascinating portayal of what happens to rider and machine when they part company at speed but it has great news value too because the rider concerned is a former World Champion, this year lying in third place behind Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi. Fortunately he limped away from the crash with little more than a suspected broken toe and while it may have dashed his hopes of victory it produced a very good result for Toru Hanai.