A chili day at the Club!

I was stoked to finally get to the track after a late morning meeting nearly shot my chances to meet Kyle Pulley and Carlo Gagliardo at Club MX. It had recently snowed but to be honest, the sandy grounds at  club mx are screaming ... come and get me, come and get me. And when bad weather holds you back from riding... well, you know... you start getting a little jittery.

While I was there, the riders started busting out some sweet whips, no footers, front fender slaps and some other serious goonage! All in good times!!!

Here are a few of my favorites.

Session 5: A.K.A the back flip session! A day in the life.

A few days later from the moto session at Cedar Cairn Mx, the plan was to demonstrate the back flip back behind Carlos' house. Yep... you heard right. I said back flip! By the way, if you've ever been to Carlos' house, you'll know that his garage has several (5 if I'm counting right) sweet 2 wheeled machines! I'm totally not kidding either!!!

In addition to the back flip, I was treated to another wheely performance on the other 2 wheeled machines. We're talking endless wheelies now. I must say... if there was a way to stay on the bike and keep the throttle positioned where it needs to be; I honestly think Carlo could ride a no-hand no-footer wheely from here to infinity. But then again... what the heck am I thinking... he may already have that knicked!!!

Have a peek at the madness!

Session 2, 3 & 4 Teaser video

A much nicer peek into the madness that Carlo is providing for my cameras! Enjoy!

A day in the life of Carlo Gagliardo... Session 3 & 4

The one thing I have to say about Carlo... is that he really wants to put all of his efforts into making his profile video stand out. And it really plays a huge part as to how good it will be in the end. So far, we've met around 4 or 5 times. And during each session, Carlo opens up his bag of skills and just goes out and has fun with it. I've been behind the camera for a while now and it's easy to tell when people who in front of the camera, are tensed up or either trying to hard. It's almost like I'm not there... which is exactly what you want.

Alright, enough chatter... lets get on with it! During one of our prior sessions, Carlo mentioned that if the Concord/Mooresville area happens to get a little rain, Cedar Cairn mx would be nice to hit for a quick session. A week later, we got that needed rain.

After the moto session was over, all the fellas that were hanging out at the track decided to head out to Martinos in Concord for some grub, bench racing and a lot of laughter. Good times were definitely had. And the very next day, we did it all over again!



Have a peek at a few of these movie screen shots.

Carlo Gagliardo: A day in the life... visits Club MX

It's day 2 of filming for Carlo and the track of choice for today is Club MX! It's always a treat to come out to this track, even if you're just watching. This facility is targeted for pro riders who are looking to make a run at racing as a career. So you know the tracks are goin' to be top notch!

At Club MX, the ground is very sandy but the folks over the track have been hauling in clay to harden up the surface a bit. Either way you look at it, this track kicks arse!!!

Check out a few of these screenshots of Carlo gettin-it done!

We saw this on the way home!!! Wide screen TV? 

Profile Teaser

I couldn't resist... enjoy this teaser of Carlo showing some skills!!

Carlo Gagliardo Profile: A Day in the Life...

A few months ago, Carlo Gagliardo and I discussed doing a mx profile video of himself. The list of things he wanted filmed included ... well, anything with 2 wheels. A couple of weeks ago, we were finally able to get started. First thing on the agenda, Carlo said... "come out to the shop and I'll ride a few wheelies for ya and just show off a little bit". Well I don't know about you but when people start showing off while a camera is on them, it's not always a happy ending. But... I will say that I stood corrected. Carlo most definitely knew how to ride wheelies. In fact, the roads are just not long enough around his shop to get a true grip on just how far he can ride a wheelie!

It didn't stop with just wheelies either. I can actually say that I've only seen this on the old Terafirma videos or the first few Crusty Demons of Dirt videos... (remember those). Let me just say that the guy has incredible balance. And I really don't think Carlo was showing off. He was just demonstrating his skills!!!

Overall, we spent a couple of hours filming at his shop to kick off his profile video. I must say that after seeing all of this, I'd say we're in for quite an adventure.

So... I've decided to document every session we film. This should keep you up to date on everything that happens.




With that being said, have a peek at some movie screen shots of Carlo in action.

Change is in the air!

Wow! I can't believe it's been this long since I've posted here. As they say... time flies when you're having fun eh! Well, lets jump right into the nitty-gritty, shall we!

This year has been an amazingly-incredible year. And it's getting better. With that being said... change is in the air. And I mean big time!

I could go on and on with all the details but I gonna try to make this short and to the point. So here goes...

Instead of using Factory 987 as my main hub for all things photography and videography... I am building another site to fill that need. From this point forward, Factory 987 will be entirely based on motocross.

That's it in a nut shell!

Les Smith

Ever since I was a kid, I've been a bit of a fanatic about motocross. So you can imagine how I felt the Saturday morning I woke up to a facebook message that said, "hey, would you be interested in putting together a video for Les Smith getting ready for the 2011 Supercross season"?

Yeah I was pumped. Big time! Chuck Shirley, owner of privateer connection put this whole thing together. So I must give a huge shout-out to Chuck.

So here it is... have a peek at the footage we got. Les really put on a show for me, even though he was focused on training.


Les Smith: Behind the scenes from Factory 987 on Vimeo.

Tom Kraft Profile Teaser

I once heard that to ride a motocross bike, all you had to do is hang on and twist the throttle. I was completely flabbergasted when I heard that but I didn't bother saying anything in return. I figured, what's the use - they obviously didn't have a clue on what they're talking about.

Anybody can get on it and "twist the throttle"... and it will definitely move forward with you. But if you want to be competitive, there are a few other things that you should be doing.

Check this teaser out of Tom Kraft


Tom Kraft Profile Teaser from Factory 987 on Vimeo.

New look

I hope to be settled now with all the changes ... or at least until new or other ideas pop into my head :)

Remembering John Dubanowich

After browsing through some photos of a friends facebook page, I stumbled onto something that grabbed my attention. It was a photo of a tall skinny guy named John Dubanowich.

I'll never forget ... I was at Andrews Motorsports one Saturday afternoon when this tall skinny guy drove up in an old blue box van. If you're a motocross rider then you know the drill. You park - go sign in - get your bike out - get your gear on - and go ride! Just like that!

Fast forward about 4 or 5 months and I'm the one parking and getting ready to sign in. Except for me it was signing the dotted line to attend college for the next couple of years. I've always been really good at remembering faces and one day, as I was walking though the hallway to go to class, I notice this tall skinny guy that looked familiar. I knew it! I was hoping I'd meet someone that was going to this school ( The Art Institute of Charlotte ) that shared the same interest as I did. So I introduced myself, and from that point on, we always did the nod of hello when we didn't have time to talk. John was easy to see coming down the hall. His hat was usually on sideways with hair coming out all sides. When we did get the chance to talk, it was always about riding. When and where!

John graduated way before I did, but it was at another mx track where I'd meet up with John again for the last time. I really didn't know John all that well but when you have motocross in your blood, you'll always have something to talk about. Throw in the fact that he enjoyed Graphic Design and you've got a cool-cat in my book.

Going back to that picture of John on my friends facebook page, it was the RIP that took me by surprise. Yep, it's true. We've lost a soldiers.

I don't know who took the photo but I wanted to share it along with a few that I took of John on that last day I saw him at Trick Tank mx.


So here's to John Dubanowich. See you later budd!