At the Races: Behind the Scenes

By: Kristi Emmons

Ever wonder what goes on behind the curtain at the professional level of motorcycle road racing? …Well, there’s no actual curtain, but we can certainly give you a glimpse of what it’s like behind pit lane wall.  This is the action that you don’t see, and we’re here to roll out the red carpet…(you know what we mean), to get a firsthand look at all the extras; all that goes into to putting these races together. 

 

Who's paying the baggage fee to fly this trophy home? That thing is BIG!
Former racer Melissa Paris Hayes dives right into working on tires and wheels for her team.
Teams, manufacturers, and brands may rival to be the best, but at the end of the day, the circus that we know as motorcycle racing is just a big family (even if they fight sometimes, like families do). Despite being from different brands, the different helmet manufacturers celebrate a Friday night race weekend tradition of sharing refreshments and stories, after a hard day's work.
Riders enjoying chatting it up with each other before the press conference begins. (Can anyone guess what they're talking about?)
Ever wonder how teams and their guests gather for things such as meals? This is what the inside of a MotoGP hospitality looks like at the European rounds.
MotoAmerica media man extraordinaire, Paul Carruthers is ready with his notes, to interview riders post race.
Professional monitor setup during a press conference. There is a whole army of people and equipment that go into broadcasting the races.
Up close and personal with the BMW M Series MotoGP safety cars. ...I'm not drooling, you're drooling!
Timing and Scoring have an immense amount of setup and breakdown for each race. Here, Dorna's Eduardo Alvarez services one of the boxes at the circuit, during breakdown after a race weekend.
The sun sets on Sunday during breakdown, over what was a final run at Motorland Aragon for MotoGP. Do you think they'll ever return there one day?