Autodromo, Brno, Czech

Underwhelming.

In a word that sums up Brno. While I met some cool people and saw a ton of fantastic motorcycles, the city itself was a bit meh. I did have the spectacular good luck of getting to stay with a lovely local girl who introduced me to a number of great people and the sights of Brno, such as they were.

Lenka was a cheerful gem that really shone in an otherwise drab town.

The real reason for coming here was, of course, the MotoGP.

The town itself is relatively well equipped to handle the influx of people and get them to the track. Bus 400 will take you from town right to the Autodromo and back again. It says so right on the back of the ticket. The ticket that I almost didn’t get because it had to be overnighted to me in Prague. It likely cost as much as I paid them for the ticket.

The first day I met some wild Germans with a Huge flagpole with the USA, Texas, and Kentucky flags on it. They were a riot. I shot a ton of photos and was really quite impressed with the Moto2 guys and the way they manage their bikes and each other.

The first time the MotoGP bikes came around the track, I thought I was going to go deaf. They are unbelievably loud. I put in some earplugs immediately and didn’t take them out until it was all over. Here are a couple of shots that show just how physical this sport is. Riders hide entirely from view behind bikes and must perform maasive direction changes in little to no distance on tiny contact patches of rubber.

The day of the race came and I took my place at the side of the track with the other shutterbugs.

I got some fun pictures.

I even managed to catch this little video clip of Pedrosa lowsiding and almost getting destroyed in the middle of the track. To his credit, he jumped up grabbed the bike and ran a few more laps before he finally dropped out to the pit.

The highlight of the day was watching the new guy Spies take to the track. He didn’t do as well as I had hoped he would, but Spies finished in front of Rossi, which does my heart good.