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Spent a few hours at MotoGP testing at Cheste, Valencia today. It was great to see some of the GP racers practising on track. Here are a few photographs I took, from left to right, top to bottom – the track; Alvaro Bautista & Dani Pedrosa; Scott Redding; Jorge Lorenzo; Dani Pedrosa; Marc Marquez; Valentino Rossi; Andrea Dovizioso; some of the rider’s motorhomes.
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Unfortunately I couldn’t make it down to Jerez for the weekend 18-20th October 2013 for the final round of the World Superbike Championship. My husband, however, was lucky enough to be there to see Tom Sykes win the World Championship.
Here are just a few of the photos taken that weekend: My husband and Carlos Checa; the superclean trucks of Team Alstare Ducati; Javi Forés; Ayrton Badovini’s garage; outside the Kawasaki garage; the starting grid; Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam; in the pits; and the starting grid of the Supersport race.
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The weekend of 9-11 November at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit at Cheste, Valencia was to hold the last Motogp race of the 2012 season. The champions of the three classes had already been decided – Moto3 – Sandro Cortese, Moto2 – Marc Marquez and Motogp – Jorge Lorenzo.
The photos above are from the Sunday race day – From left to right, top to bottom – At the circuit; Nico Terol had a lap of honour after having corner 4 named after him; Moto3 race; Marc Marquez; Valentino Rossi; Nicky Hayden & Danilo Petrucci; Jorge Lorenzo & Dani Pedrosa; Jorge Lorenzo after crashing; my purchase of the day, a Carlos Checa cap (I know he is no longer in Motogp, but I’m a big fan!). They’re not very clear as it was cold, raining and I was shivering, but not a bad souvenir of a great day out.
I decided it was time to have a bit of a tidy-up of the art material in my cupboard, and found a few bits and pieces I forgot I had. It was like finding a treasure chest … there were 3 watercolours sets, with lots of loose paint tubes – I haven’t used watercolour for over 10 years!! Various sketch books/pads of paper – not quite sure there were so many of the same size!! A beautiful wooden box of 72 Derwent Studio coloured pencils – a 19th birthday present from my husband, many years ago, which I cannot remember the last time they were used!! And lots of other small bits and pieces. I think the oldest item was an A2 portfolio that my school friend bought me in the mid to late ’80’s. ‘Big sigh’ … note to oneself: must use some of these materials before the end of the year.
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We recently visited Alicante Castle or Castillo de Santa Barbara as it is known locally. We decided that we were not going to take the lift, but were going to walk …. and what a long and hard walk it was … but worth it – especially when we had Serrano ham bocadillos and soft drinks bought from the reasonably priced cafe, and sat in the picnic area enjoying the sea views! Dating back to the 9/10th century, this castle was built by the Moors, over-looks the city of Alicante and is completely free to enter. The views are spectacular – the first photo is looking out towards the harbour. The second photo is the main exit from the castle if going by car, and the third photo is a ‘daredevil’ seagull precariously perched making a nest on the edge of the castle wall!
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I’ve always enjoyed watching any type of motorsport on the tv, but it wasn’t until we went to our first World Superbike race in 2007, that I became a huge fan of motorbikes. From that year until April 2010 we would go to watch the World Superbikes at Cheste in Valencia, to sit in the grandstands and watch these fast machines and their talented riders, race around the track.
The first photo is from World Superbike 2008 of Japan’s Noriyuki Haga’s Yamaha Motor Italia, Turkey’s Kenan Sofuoglo’s Hanspree Ten Kate Honda and Spain’s Fonsi Nieto’s Suzuki Alstare.
The middle photo is from 2009 and I’m with Spain’s Carlos Checa, in his second year in WSB after spending 13 years in the Motogp class (500/800/1000). Two years later in 2011 he became WSB Champion (to much of my delight – I’m a huge fan!).
And the final photo is my favourite – my wonderful husband and his beloved Triumph.
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Here are 3 photographs of our recent break to Valencia.
First is the bullring – this was built in 1861 and is of similiar style to the Colisseum in Rome.
The middle photo is of the gothic style estacion del norte, which is the train station. This was built in 1917 and is situated right next to the bullring in the city.
Then onto football – Valencia FC was founded in 1919, then in 1923 the Mestalla Stadium was built – where it now stands. The photo shows the groundsmen repairing the pitch after Wednesday 11th April match against the Madrid team of Rayo Vallecano … Valencia won 4 – 1.
