Road racing’s biggest and fastest jumps caught on camera

This is Irish road racer Ryan Farquhar landing at 150mph on his Kawasaki ZX-10R from a 40ft long jump over Hanlon’s Leap on his way to four race wins at the awe-inspiring Kells road race in Ireland.

Photographer Steven Davison is one of the best in the business and is one of the most experienced road racing photographers but even he said getting these images was ‘scary’.

Hanlon’s Leap is on a downhill section of the course that drops downhill before the bikes leap off a platform but this is just one of two massive jumps on the Kells course.

The other jump goes uphill and racers like Gary Johnson were leaping six feet high before landing.

Davison said: “These are the biggest jumps in road racing and I have seen people flip their bikes on landing.

“The good guys land on their back wheels, the less experienced on the front. Taking the pictures is scary because you are only four feet away from the bikes.

“But not as scary as when two go past at once as the windblast is incredible and you can feel the exhaust heat and you get hit with grit and dust.”