Burn Rubber, Not Time: MotoGP is Back at COTA

MotoGP 2026 comes back to the Circuit of the Americas March 27-29. COTA doesn’t just test riders — it tests photographers. The elevation changes, the sweeping corners, the sheer unpredictability of a MotoGP weekend mean you’re constantly making split-second decisions: which corner, which lens, which moment. Sometimes you nail it. Sometimes the race nails you first.

These three frames from the last two years tell that story. The first came from the Moto2 race in 2024 — Darryn Binder threading his Husqvarna through a fast sweeper, the red-and-white curbing blurring behind him as I tracked the pan. Getting the shutter speed right in that light, at that angle, took some testing and missed shots, but the featured image paid off in the end.

Then came Turn 15, and Alex Rins’s crash. I love my assigned seat at that turn because I sit high and have a commanding view of turns 12 through 15. There is a lot of action all the time. I saw the moment Rins skidded off the track and lost his bike. I lifted my camera to capture the drama. The marshals moved quickly to provide assistance. What I got wasn’t action. It was stillness: Rins walking toward his bike, while his Yamaha was dragged back to the barrier. A chance of winning was lost in the blink of an eye.

2025 brought a completely different kind of image — pure chaos compressed into one frame. Pedro Acosta inside on Fabio Quartararo, bikes overlapping mid-corner, a pack of KTMs swarming behind them. I was just trying to hold focus and freeze the action. The riders were doing the rest. Their eyes were glued to the sharp Turn 15 curve.

That is the story behind the shots. If you liked this post, you may also be interested in others featuring Austin, Circuit of the Americas, COTA, MotoGP, Sports, and Texas. Until the next time, keep clicking and capturing the beauty your eyes find.