{image1}One of the most extreme of the extreme sports, the MotoGP championship motorcycle race is arguably a sport for the insane. Riding at more than 200 mph on bikes sporting killer 500 cc engines, the riders would appear to have a death wish.
"Faster," a new documentary narrated by Ewan McGregor, peeks into the perilous, fast-paced world of motorcycle racing, focusing on four of the world's top racers: world champ Valentino Rossi and his archrival Max Biaggi, Gary McCoy and John Hopkins.
The stage is set when a number of experts describe the bikes themselves as, "The most brutal race machine ever built" and, "The most evil devices. If you treat them wrong, they will bite."
Of course, it doesn't take long to get to the crashes and the injuries, which may be exactly what the sport's biggest fans are waiting for. Riders contradict one another. "At the end of the day, it's not that dangerous," says one. "One day you will fall off," retorts another.
The section that examines the accidents and their aftermath is the most fearful. When Mick Doohan crashed in 1992, his leg was so badly injured that both legs had to be joined together to prevent amputation. A month later, Doohan was so desperate to compete that he got back into the race while his wounds were still bleeding.
So, what makes these guys tick? Well, mostly they have motorcycles in their blood. Most began riding before they rode bicycles. And most say they savor the speed, the thrill of the acceleration, the feeling of the bike's enormous power, the tough competition.
That competition pits every racer against the others, even though they race in teams of two. In fact, you want to beat your teammate more than the others, because he's riding on the same equipment as you, McGregor points out.
The results are often spectacular and showy, as in the case of bitter rivals Biaggi and Rossi, whose on- and off-track feuds get some attention in "Faster."
As you'd expect, there's nearly non-stop, fast-action footage, edited in a similarly rapid-fire way ... cut, cut, cut, cut. High-intensity music provides the soundtrack to the ubiquitous "vrooooooooom."
In the end, however, "Faster" will likely be of but passing interest to those who aren't enamored of racing or motorcycles. Unless you're interested in the psychology of the lure of danger, in which case, there's plenty of fodder for your research here.
"Faster" opens Friday, Sept. 10 at Landmark's Oriental Theatre.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
