red bull dirt bike insanity

[barP]

lots of good shots on here from the motocross track, but here's a different flavor. these are from the 2nd annual red bull last man standing, which ran 2 weeks ago in north texas. now, to understand these pix, you have to understand some things about the event. as it says, this is about the LAST man standing. it's designed to be the most difficult, brutal, and generally unfinishable offroad motorcycle race in the world. so far, they've succeeded, because the winner both years has been david knight, the 2005 and 2006 world enduro champion. in fact, he said of this year's event that it was more difficult than the erzburg enduro, which takes place in austria, and has been red bull's signature off-road motorcycle event!

here are some numbers to break it down:

2 laps, same trail, opposite directions.
40 miles each.
1 lap in the day, 1 lap after dark.

50 degrees f was the high temperature.

128 riders started.
11 of them transferred from day to night section.

to do so, they had to finish within 2 hours of the 2:34:15 it took david night to do it.
only 2 finished the night loop, both from england.

david knight, the undisputed heavyweight offroad riding champion of the world, won by over an hour....both laps.

how gnarly is david knight?
240 pounds is how much the ktm300xc weighed when he reportedly threw it over a 4 foot ledge at the top of a rocky hill....by himself.

here are a few shots.

1
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/wpattison/red%20bull%20last%20man%20standing/start.jpg

2
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/wpattison/red%20bull%20last%20man%20standing/rodeocarnage.jpg

3
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/wpattison/red%20bull%20last%20man%20standing/knighter.jpg

4
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/wpattison/red%20bull%20last%20man%20standing/cole-kirkpatrick-joshua-tree.jpg

5
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/wpattison/red%20bull%20last%20man%20standing/bad-line-on-joshua.jpg

6
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/wpattison/red%20bull%20last%20man%20standing/texas-stadium-gully.jpg

7
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/wpattison/red%20bull%20last%20man%20standing/drop-into-tx-stadium.jpg

8
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/wpattison/red%20bull%20last%20man%20standing/finish-line.jpg

the rest are at:

http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/wpattison/red%20bull%20last%20man%20standing/

wp.

[NordieBoy]

Yeah, I'd do it.
But only if they made it hard next year.



:D

[Littlenose]

that looks like serious biking for sure... 4 and 5 are my favourites hands down :D

[barP]

right on! i almost got killed taking #5! that shot is NOT cropped at all.

wp.

[sissi]

right on! i almost got killed taking #5! that shot is NOT cropped at all.

wp.

oh so you are this kind of photographer i see in those rallye crash videos on YouTube being rolled over for good picture :lol:
I feel for those poor drivers seeing some crazy stunt infront of them and hold the gas on to not lose those seconds which matters most :eek:

[SeanH]

Interesting........lots of 2 strokes. More on any line at once than I have seen for a while.

[barP]

the 250 2-smoke is alive and well in off-road circles. most pros on a national level ride them because nothing beats the power-to-weight ratio.

sissi....i'm not sure what to make of your comment. all i can say is he took a bad line, and i just happened to be there to capture it. i held the button down as long as i could then jumped!

wp.

[PhotosGuy]

i almost got killed taking #5! that shot is NOT cropped at all. Nice work! It was worth it to me to see it! :D

[NordieBoy]

The 2 strokes still seem to rule in enduros.
Although if there's lots of mud...

[YFZ_52]

That race is intense! Awesome pictures you got! Some show the true emotion that the riders experiance when racing a race like that one!

[DaleP]

23mm on #5?!?! Bleedin' 'eck you're not kidding when you said you were almost killed!

For me the first few shots are way too busy and almost painful to look at. Fanastic stuff from #4 onwards.

[KevB]

Nice shots. Number 4 is the pick of the bunch for me :D

[livewire-photography.com]

i Agree with DaleP, that race looks mental, iv never heard of it. also how the hell does he get up that wall in the last one?
James....

[varanus]

great shots indeed looks like a hell of an event

[ned1]

right on! i almost got killed taking #5! that shot is NOT cropped at all.

wp.

Looks like you almost Killed the Gay in shot # 7 with your Flash, I have seen marshals tell people to XXXXwell turn that flash off at race meetings !! :rolleyes:

ps On saying that, I think #5 would have to go up on the wall.

[barP]

thanks, everybody!

this race is definitely, definitely mental. red bull specializes in events like that! they do another one in austria called the erzburg rally, and of course they also do the flugtags. fun stuff!

to answer the question about the 5' wall at the finish....david knight is a former national-class trials rider, so believe it or not, he didn't even hesitate on this one. he lofted the front wheel to the lip and just slammed into the face. after he went up, there was a perfect tire track from his back wheel, running from bottom to top. amazing! i wouldn't balk at a wall half that tall, or one that tall with a little angle, but this one....no way.

on the flash...i definitely try to keep it out of their eyes. i know if i were dropping in right there, the last thing i'd want is to be flash blind. i will say, though, that the headlight rig he's running is brighter than any flash!

wp.

[NordieBoy]

Looks like you almost Killed the Gay in shot # 7 with your Flash, I have seen marshals tell people to XXXXwell turn that flash off at race meetings !! :rolleyes:

Nah, he's side on and probably didn't even notice.
(Probably putting out 200W of his own there)

[Jim G]

Wow. #5 is darn impressive :p

That looks like a hell of a lot of fun to enter if you like that sort of thing... crazy stuff.

[Nidz]

Cool pics and cool angles however I think some shots appear oversaturated for my liking.

[barP]

Cool pics and cool angles however I think some shots appear oversaturated for my liking.

that's good feedback. i know some of them appear a bit agressive, but they were all done with velvia vision at 10%. i may back it down even further. it's a delicate thing!

wp.

[petrolhead]

Looks more like Trials than Motorcross :)

[Gazdaman]

Love the pics. Knighter is quite a rider, he won the Weston beach race this year beating Stefan Everts.

The second one is kinda painful to look at, I can't tell what's going on with that KTM on the right. Too much going on my brain doesn't quite want to comprehend it.

Gaz