Please click on the above image to view it larger.

The MotoGP 2008 Laguna Seca weekend was my first experience with a credential. Not just for MotoGP, but for any motor race, or any event at all. I spent most of the weekend not only thrilled and wondering how it had happened and if it might ever happen again, but also confused by a lot of rules and conventions I did not yet understand.

Though I knew views from the spectator side of the fence at Laguna Seca well, I didn’t know where to go on the other side of the fence and spent much of the weekend exploring, or so I thought. Looking back at the images from that weekend, I see that I spent too much time in too few places, so there is much less variety in my images than I now expect of myself.

I didn’t know what gear to bring. In addition to my Canon 40D, I rented an original 5D to have as a second body. I also rented a 300mm f/2.8 lens, thinking that with photo access this would be long enough to reach any part of the track I wanted. That turned out not to be true.

It’s not easy to look back at my images from this weekend and think of all the missed opportunities I might have claimed had I not been at the beginning of my MotoGP work. I wish I had shots of that 2008 MotoGP class that are up to my current standards. But if I continue to work in MotoGP for another six or seven years, perhaps I will look back at my 2015 images with similar regrets. I hope so, for that would mean I’ve continued to improve and grow, and after all, at any given moment we can only do our best with the experience we have.

So for now, a look back at those 2008 riders and the race at Laguna Seca via images from an inexperienced but very keen amateur. Above, one of my all-time favorite helmet designs belongs to Shinya Nakano, designed by Aldo Drudi.

Nakano’s Gresini Honda teammate in 2008, Alex De Angelis has had a long career in GP racing. Starting in 1999, De Angelis did one race in the 125cc class before entering the series full time in 2000. He has had four wins since then, one in 250cc and three Moto2.

2008 was the year of Marco Melandri’s Ducati misadventure. At the time we didn’t know how complex a puzzle the GP8 was, since Casey Stoner had won the title on the GP7. Melandri managed a season-best fifth place in China, but had only two more top ten finishes. For his post-2008 MotoGP career he was a shadow of his former self.

Andrea Dovizioso was a premier class rookie in 2008 and a hot item. Having won a world title in 125cc in 2004, his three 250cc seasons saw him finish third in 2005 (to Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner), then second in 2006 (to Jorge Lorenzo), then second again in 2007 (to Jorge Lorenzo again). With the Scot Honda team he finished fifth in 2008 with a podium in his rookie season.

On the next page, Elias, Guintoli, Capirossi, Stoner, Lorenzo: