12 Hours of La Tuque Endurance Race La Tuque, Quebec Canada May 15-18, 2014

The team put in the best first heat out of all the teams with a total of 80 laps and looked as if they would be the ones to top the podium, but electrical issues and some other mechanical issues in the last heat caused them to spend quite a bit of time in the pits, sending them back to a fourth place finish.

The Py Racing / Elka team finished fourth overall after winning heat 1

The Quad X O’Boute team (Simon Leblanc, Guillaume Lagace, Luc Croteau) kept a consistent pace through all three heats.

Quad X O’Boute team of Simon Leblanc, Guillaume Lagace, Luc Croteau rounded out the top five in the ATV Class on their Yamaha YFZ450R

The team completed 73 laps in the first heat, 70 in the second heat and 77 in heat three for a total of 220 laps which allowed then to round out the top five in the ATV class.

The 12 Hours of La Tuque is a challenging race for even the toughest teams, but there are some who are gluttons for punishment and for those individuals, there is the Ironman class. There were only three brave souls who tempted fate in the Ironman class, including last year’s Ironman winner, Martin Lafontaine, who was going for his second consecutive win.

Martin Lafontaine earned his second consecutive win in the Ironman ATV class on his Can-Am DS450 ATV

Lafontaine completed 68 laps in the first heat, 57 in heat two and an amazing 71 laps in the final heat for a total of 196, giving him his second Ironman win; an awesome accomplishment for a solo rider. “My Can-Am was very strong and handled well. It was perfect for this race. I did have a few issues including a broken clutch, but I was able to still take the win. It is very exciting for me,” said Lafontaine.

Patrick Huot was also going solo for this race. Huot completed a total of 175 laps for a very respectable second place on the Ironman podium.

Eliminator/Elka Racing’s Rick Ellsworth also decided to take on the event in the Ironman class. Unfortunately, Ellsworth ran into his fair share of mechanical issues and resorted to pushing his quad over the finish line in order to claim third place.

2014 12 Hours of La Tuque Ironman ATV Podium (left to right) Patrick Huot (2nd), Martin Lafontaine (1st), Rick Ellsworth (3rd)

Finally, the PR Racing Quadgirls (Vanessa Noel, Briney Latimer, Marie-Eve Huppe) took home the Pro-Am 8 hour win with a total of 76 laps during the first and third sessions of the race.

The PR Racing Quadgirls of Vanessa Noel, Briney Latimer, Marie-Eve Huppe earned the win in the Pro-Am ATV Class

The 12th Annual 12 Hours of La Tuque was a great event with plenty of action and fun for all. It is a great event that we look forward to in anticipation every year.

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