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In November of 2003, the NSRA (National Stunt Riding Association) organized the first NSRA Championships event in Gainesville, Florida.

I was living in Gainesville, home of the University of Florida Gators, so I decided to attend the event and take pictures.

I offered to exchange my photography work in exchange for an all access pass.

The event coordinator hooked me up with a pass and I was able to get great shots from any part of the Gainesville Raceway.

The stunt riders at the NSRA 2003 Championships rode a variety of sport bike motorcycles including a Honda F4i, Yamaha YZF R6, Suzuki GSXR 600, Suzuki Gixxer 750, and a Kawasaki ZX-7R. The Suzuki GSXR line, known as the Gixxers, seemed to be the most popular sport bike for stunting.

The riders who scored in the top three were, "Downtown" Joe Brown, Aarron "Supa Fly" Brunnelle, and Joe Dryden. The riders were scored on three different categories which were the X-Treme Freestyle, Sickest Trick, and Overall Performance.

Perhaps the most widely known sport bike motorcycle stunt is the "wheelie" or "wheely". This stunt is performed by lifting the front wheel of the motorcycle off the ground and holding it there for at least a few seconds. Some guys can pop a wheelie for miles and miles by finding the balance point. Once the bike reaches the balance point you only need to slightly modulate the throttle to keep the bike from dropping down or flipping backwards.

Some of the riders had modified their sport bike motorcycles with frame sliders and rear skid bars. The rear drag bar or skid bar would serve as a handle for dragging stunts or as a safety device to keep the bike from completely flipping over backwards during a extreme wheelie.

Sometimes mishaps and accidents happen so you should always wear full protective riding gear whenever you ride a motorcycle and especially when attempting stunts on a high powered sport bike motorcycle. I own a nice pair of Alpinestars leather riding gloves and an Alpinestars Dyno leather jacket but other popular brands are Teknic, Joe Rocket, Icon and Sidi. My helmet is a Shoei RF-900. Other brands of helmets include Arai, Bell, AGV, HJC, Icon, KBC, and Suomy.

After I photographed the stunt riders warming up, I walked out to the parking lot to check out the bikes that the fans had ridden to the NSRA show. I saw all the major brands represented including Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda, Kawasaki, Triumph, and even a few Ducati motorcycles. One person had a pair of handcuffs attached to the seat strap of their Yamaha YZF-R6. In the last picture in the row above you can see the customized seat of a Suzuki Hayabusa that says "Let's Ride Busa Style".

This rider on a bright blue Suzuki GSXR made his wheelies look effortless. I later learned that he had modified his gears so that his top speed would suffer but his improved acceleration allowed for easy wheelies. On my stock 2000 Yamaha R6 600cc sport bike, I have to bounce the front end in first gear or clutch up the bike in second gear in order to pop a wheelie. I gave up on wheelies after my bike's front end triple tree started to feel loose and a few parts fell off.