Scott Jones, Ducati Corse

At the 2012 Misano round, Scott caught up with Milena Koerner, Communication and Press Officer at Tech 3 Yamaha. We spoke over lunch in the team's hospitality, and as if to illustrate exactly how vital Milena is to this team's efforts, members of the Tech 3 staff stopped by to ask her questions every few minutes. They promptly received answers, or Milena got up to solve the problem quickly herself before returning to our interview. Milena does the work of several people, as you'll see when reading about her past experience and her current role at Tech 3.

Scott Jones: Please describe you role at Tech 3. Obviously you do more than get one rider to his media debriefs.

Pol Espargaro, king of all he surveys

One Frenchman leaves, another arrives: Mike Di Meglio trying out Johann Zarco's old bike

He's behind you!

He's back!

And Andrea Dovizioso is filling his old seat

His new teammate Nicky Hayden said that the two of them gave similar feedback

It's been a hard year for Nicky Hayden

Fastest Moto2 man in the dry at Valencia, but unfortunately for Pol Espargaro, it rained

In enemy territory

Moving, leaving, staying. Big changes coming after this weekend.

The Beast. Marquez' fast and aggressive nature got him into trouble again on Friday

Cal Crutchlow skating through the damp at Valencia

An Australian champion on a Repsol Honda: Mick Doohan turned some laps at Phillip Island for the fans

Cal Crutchlow was not going to let anything as petty as a bout of bronchitis slow him down on Sunday

Never give up

King of the Island

One fast rookie: Bradl has been impressive on his MotoGP debut at the island

Jorge Lorenzo found some speed on Saturday. But will it be enough to stay ahead of Pedrosa?

Two more races, and it's over

Two more races and it's over. Pedrosa willing.

The Mack is back, and he's all too familiar with the taste of humble pie

One of the great things about working with David at MotoMatters is that doing so gets me to some amazing places, now and then in position to grab an image that really means a lot to me. From time to time, one of those images resonates with others as well.

Last year at Catalunya I happened to get Casey Stoner dragging his elbow around Turn 5, and as soon as that shot appeared on this website it began an amazing journey. It's the only work of mine that has approached something that might be called 'viral' in how it spread around the world. 

Before long I was hearing from new Twitter, Facebook and other fans, but also from Alpinestars, HRC and Repsol Honda, Bridgestone, and even from Casey himself, who asked for a copy of the image. His mechanics put the photo on their laptops as desktop wallpaper, and some of them are still using it. When I spoke to Adrianna Stoner and used the image to introduce myself at Silverstone, she said, "Oh, that's your picture. We still get it emailed to us about every five minutes." 

Blue skies. Not something we saw much of the first couple of days at Misano

Two days of testing and a revised chassis saw a marked improvement for Valentino Rossi

Andrea Dovizioso, forty miles from home

Happy Families? Happier after a podium at Misano, that's for sure

Maverick. Motorcycle racer

Racing Blu? Some liked it, others didn't

Not bad for a first timer

Lorenzo looked like he had it in the bag. But then he didn't

Start the shark music

Easy rider. Well, not that easy.

Stefan Bradl's trackday at Laguna paid off. He hasn't had to waste a session learning the track

Michele Pirro, soaking up the glorious NorCal weather

Laguna baby!

Elevation. Laguna Seca has it

Nine more, and we won't be able to see this any longer

I've been thinking a lot lately about what advice and help I can give other photographers, largely because I'm leading a photography seminar two weeks before the MotoGP round at Laguna Seca. In addition to technique, camera settings, and workflow secrets, I'll also be talking about the 'mental game' of photography, and one of the ideas of this aspect of getting interesting pictures is overcoming shyness and having the courage to take risks.

The above portrait of Romano Fenati and his father, Claudio, is one of my favorites from 2012, and I'd like to share its tale, both for those who are interested in a behind the scenes MotoGP story, and also for my fellow shooters who enjoy occasionally finding photography-related comments in this space.