Hard Roads - The Essence Of Road Racing

By: Stephen Davidson .

'Every sense is electrified into life by the spectacle. There is an appalling fascination in watching, hearing, smelling, even tasting the danger of the battle: while everyone knows what can go wrong, we are amazed at the skill of the racers in controlling the mayhem.'

This, for Stephen Davison, is the essence of road racing - the knife-edge tension between excitement and fear, triumph and despair, beauty and danger. In 120 incredible photographs Davison takes us to the heart of the sport: the all-consuming passion, the incredible skill and speed of the riders, and, always, the spectre of disaster on the horizon.

But it is the road that fascinates Davison. From Cookstown and the North West, to Scarborough, Skerries and the Isle of Man, Davison captures ordinary roads thronged with fans and transformed into extraordinary arenas of speed; roads where skill, courage and determination bring sweet victory. Hard roads, too, demanding everything - total commitment, total faith and sometimes the ultimate sacrifice.

From profiles of legends such as Richard Britton, Darran Lindsay, Robert Dunlop and Martin Finnegan, to stories of stars like Bruce Anstey, Steve Plater, Ryan Farquhar, Cameron Donald and John McGuinness, Hard Roads is a vivid and uncompromising portrait of road racing by the sport's number one photographer.

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