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View Full Version : 2004 Maxxis 12 Hours of Pont de Vaux, France



Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 05:34 PM
This is more like "How I spent my summer vacation" more than it is a Race Report, but here it goes! While taking care of Englishman Paul Rowlands' GNCC quad this season, we had the chance to ride, race and hang out together quite a bit. So it wasn't a big surprise when he offered to help me race in Europe, but I had no idea how awesome of an experience it would be. As the 18th annual French event came closer, I went through the necessary paperwork to get my passport, FIM racing license, insurance, and clear the anti-doping regulations. I flew over along with my girlfriend Melanie and we landed in historic Paris to start our trip.

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 05:43 PM
Knowing that the 6 hour time difference between Maryland and Paris would take a little getting used to, I chose to arrive a few days early to get properly acclimated to the time change. During the 3 days prior to the event, I relaxed and checked out the cool stuff around Paris. This is the entrance to The Louvre, the renowned art museum which contains great sculptures and paintings including the Mona Lisa.

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 05:47 PM
Once inside The Louvre, I couldn't resist the temptation to take exriders.com to the international level. How's that, Harlen!

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 06:25 PM
Venus de Milo; goddess of love, beauty, and fertility. Too bad about her arms.

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 06:35 PM
This was the entrance to the track. Just kidding! This is the Arch de Triomphe or "Victory Arch". I walked back and forth through it about twenty times hoping it would bring me good luck. After hanging out for a few days in Paris, we drove down to Pont de Vaux, which was about 5 hours south.

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 06:44 PM
The language barrier was tough when we were away from the big cities, and sometimes it was hard to communicate even the simplest thought or request. Getting into the track was easy, and everyone there welcomed the foreign "pilots". This is the entrance to the track. The Racers entered in the event didn't have to pay to get into the track, nor did their families and pit crews.

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 06:56 PM
There were some really nice "transporters", and they had a very euro styling to them. This is the KTM display rig, which was only used for showing new models. They had other trucks just for race programs.

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 06:59 PM
The Suzuki Transporter.

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 07:00 PM
The Kawasaki "Big Rig".

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 07:05 PM
The KIK Honda Racing UK 450R was looking nice; and with 3-time PDV winner Paul Winrow on their 3-rider team they were definitely a threat.

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 07:09 PM
The #33 W-Tec Eraser was entered by the W-Tec factory team. Check out that linkage!

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 07:14 PM
Yamaha YFZ450's were plentiful in France, and this is the one ridden by the French "Team Starter 84" crew.

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 07:24 PM
Moto and Co./Yamaha Motor France fielded this fleet of immaculate YFZ's.

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 07:28 PM
The #17 EMP entry utilized a Husaberg motor, and was piloted by French riders Estelle, Lieven, and Barnier.

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 07:32 PM
This quad wasn't entered in the race, but with a big-bore KTM motor and WP suspension it looked like a viable race bike.

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 07:35 PM
This KTM-powered quad almost looks production. Maybe a 2005 KTM 525 ATV?

Andy Lagzdins
08-30-2004, 07:48 PM
I was fortunate to land a ride on the most dominant team at the PDV; Team ATV World/Duncan Racing. They have been racing and winning this event for years and pull out all the stops to stay on top. The powerhouse 2004 Team from L to R: Me!, Paul Rowlands, Cale Downen, Ricky Tordoff, Dave Baldwin, John Mitchell, Doug Eichner, Chad Lohr, and Tavis Cain.

Bart
08-31-2004, 05:19 AM
Great pics Andy. And congrats on an excellent finish. Hopefully you are going to use what you learned in France and race the 12 Hours of America.

465Stroker
08-31-2004, 05:50 AM
Great job Andy.:macho

I sure would like to see if Duncan will run at the 12 Hours race in October - Are they??

bradley300
08-31-2004, 08:40 AM
that banshee looks sweet, awesome pics!

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 11:27 AM
Thanks for the props, guys. I'm hoping to get a ride for the Iowa race; Duncan is not entering any teams as far as I know.

Here is the quad that we rode at PDV. It was a brand new 450r with mild motorwork (HRC kit, FatBoy4 pipe, K&N filter, Vortex ignition). The frame had fresh powder on it, Laeger +3 pro-trax frontend and Laeger swingarm. Elka suspension and linkage, PEP style dampner, AC nerfs, tall seat foam with a custom cover, and various small detail parts.

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 11:31 AM
This is the top of our seat cover that had our names embroidered in it. Very nice touch!

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 11:35 AM
Checking out the track the day before practice, some sections were underwater! I was thinking that it may be a mud race, but the rain stayed away. The promoters had water trucks that sucked the puddles dry and left the track ready to ride on!

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 11:41 AM
On Saturday morning, the track was a little soggy, but ready to start practice on. You can see some of the 120 pit areas in the background. Every team entered in the race had a designated pit area numbered just for them. The pit straight was approximately 3/8 mile long total.

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 11:45 AM
Here's a good view of the pit straight, on the right hand side of the photo. We were coming down the straight towards the camera in this view.

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 11:57 AM
This view is from the end of the pit straight. We ran 16/38 gearing with 18" rear tires and the quad was wide open in 5th gear for what seemed like forever. My team manager advised me to back off a bit near the end of the straight, but that only lasted a few laps! I picked out a braking marker that I used almost the whole time; if I waited until my marker to brake I had just enough track left to hit the inside of the turn spot on under hard braking. I passed many riders here.

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 12:07 PM
This is one of three very long straightaways that ran around the perimeter of a corn field. All three were 5th gear straights. The turns here were all 90 degree and became very chopped up with braking and acceleration bumps throughout them. The straights had usually two or three lines that were smoother than the others. Picking lines in traffic was very important because if someone was racing with you and you picked a line with a lapper in it, you would be stuck behind the lapper while the guy behind you motored on past in a clear line. It took some balls and some luck to cross these ruts at high spped (55-65 mph?).

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 12:14 PM
This is a view of the track from the one of the two largest jumps on the track. One was a 3rd gear tabletop and the other was a 4th gear single. They were right after one another.

08-31-2004, 02:25 PM
That looks like a lot of fun!!! I would love to have the chance to compete in something like that! was there a width limit for the quads? those things look really wide!!!! Congrats on the finish!

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 05:09 PM
The tech inspection was located in the middle of town. You could trailer your quad down or ride it if you wanted to. This is where riders signed in and the entire srew received passes to the track; complete with photo. After tech ended, every team (starting with #120 first) was asked to ride their quad up onto a podium with a french-speaking announcer. The team members stood on the podium while the announcer yelled some unintelligable stuff and the crowd cheered. Our turn didn't come up until about 10:30 at night and we had to race the next day! The square where this took place was filled with spectators and people were hanging out at the restaurants and pubs all around drinking and having a good time.

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 05:16 PM
Here's a photo of our quad at tech inspection. As far as I know any width quad is legal for this race. Check out the perforated clear plastic rock guard in front of the headlights.

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 05:29 PM
Back to the track and this is our pit area.

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 05:38 PM
Each of the Duncan/ATV World teams had their own timing board (powdercoated to match the frame color, of course) which was manned constantly during the race. Each rider's lap times were recorded as backup to the transponder scoring utilized by the promoter. We communicated via pitboards every lap and the information proved vital. Here is Loren Duncan watching out for his riders. Notice the lights over the time sheets for nighttime recording.

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 05:53 PM
I can't thank the guys at ATV World enough for setting up the quad and sponsoring the team. This is Martin Fletcher from ATV World. Martin and Philip Crabtree run the shop, and it is the largest atv parts distributor in Europe. The Nac's of Europe. Martin prepared the Honda 450r for our team and we only had to make minor adjustments during practice.

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 06:03 PM
Chad Lohr was a friendly guy and was always in a great mood. We're old enough that we can talk about tracks in the MD/VA area that don't even exist anymore! It was cool being able to ride with such a talented racer from a different discipline of competition.

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 06:16 PM
Doug Eichner is the man at PDV. He's won it more than anyone else and you can never count him out. This year he was teamed up with John Mitchell on a Laeger's Banshee. Doug is a great guy and really down to earth. He seems really comfortable with his surroundings in the pits, and that translates into awesome performances on the track. What more can you do when you've won championships in MX, SX, WORCS, BAJA? Go overseas and win a handful of PDV's!

Andy Lagzdins
08-31-2004, 06:32 PM
Who do you want to be your team manager at the PDV? Stuart Walker. No question. He's been racing this event since the beginning 18 years ago and can plan race strategies as well as "turn the spanners"; because he lives, eats and breathes this event. He reads the weather, lap times, competitors' problems, bike setup, and creates a plan for racing based on the factors. I personally have never seen anyone calculate complex points/time/overall position of a dozen teams so quickly. He goes into a sort of tunnel vision with the score sheets and boom!- next thing you know he's got all your team's stats before the transponders have finished tripping the beam. Big inspiration, big heart, here's to you- Wanker!

Andy Lagzdins
09-01-2004, 06:32 AM
Practice Saturday morning was muddy, and everyone was taking their spotless bikes out into the muck. We waited until the practice session was nearly over and then Cale and I cut about 5 or 6 laps to try and set up the quad. All of the practice laps are recorded and the best time from each team determined the start position for each of the three racing sessions. We qualified 28th, which meant we had to do some catchup at the start of each session. The top qualifiers were the Yamaha Motor France YFZ450 of off-road legend Stephen Peterhansel in 1st; in 2nd the winner of the last two PDV's Greg Lassaigne on a Banshee; and Chad and Tavis on their YFZ450 in 3rd. The first racing session was 3 hours on Saturday afternoon. In this photo Paul Rowlands prepares to switch with me.

Andy Lagzdins
09-01-2004, 06:43 AM
The first 3 hour session ended with Eichner/Mitchell in front of Lohr/Cain. Lassaigne/Goodman/Novak sat in 3rd place. Our team finished in 6th, just ahead of the KTM powered quad of Mike Walsh and Jeremy Lawson. We did 54 laps of the track in 3 hours! Lassaigne's Banshee had some rear sprocket trouble, and even after a lengthy pit they came back to finish the session very
well. This is a photo taken during their pit stop.

Andy Lagzdins
09-01-2004, 06:48 AM
We started the night session on Saturday evening at 8pm. It was a 5 hour session that went until 1am. It was getting dark just as the Duncan teams were pitting. This is Eichner and Mitchell switching during the fuel stop. It was tough to try and catch the action during the race because I was either on the track or ready to hop on the quad at a moment's notice.

Andy Lagzdins
09-01-2004, 06:55 AM
Chad and Tavis were running right up front on their YFZ and seemed to be pacing themselves to finish strong at the end. Here is their night session rider change.

Andy Lagzdins
09-01-2004, 07:17 AM
At the end of the night session the top 3 remained the same; with Eichner/Mitchell accumulating a massive 5 lap lead! Mike Walsh's team had moved into 4th overall, and our team was 7th. The last 4 hour session was run from 12-4pm on Sunday under clear skies. We had lost some time in the pits and Cale's palms were blistered badly, so we knew the last session would be a tough one. Cale was doing our starts due to his mx background. He would cut through the pack quickly at the start and was turning super-fast lap times; but his pace played havoc on his hands. The medic tried to wrap them but it was too bad. I started the last session and had moved up into the top ten when our quad ran out fuel at the end of the pit straight. I pushed it back to the pits, refueled, and did back to back 1 1/2 hour stints. When I got off the quad for the last time, I was done! Paul Rowlands (who had a knee injury going into this race and didn't ride with a thumb throttle) pulled out the stops and finished the race with super-consistent lap times to put us back up to 11th in the session and 6th overall.

Andy Lagzdins
09-01-2004, 07:30 AM
Doug Eichner and John Mitchell win it! Their Duncan/ATV World Laeger Banshee took them to the overall win. Their lead was 6 laps over Mike Walsh's KTM. Stephene Petehansel dropped back to 7th and Lassaigne's Banshee broke near the end. Tavis and Chad's YFZ stopped in the last session also; a tough break for the talented duo who ran so close to the front the whole race. The other Duncan/ATV World YFZ of Tordoff/Baldwin/Maessen came back to finish 4th after breaking a rear shock during the first session. Paul Winrow's KIK Honda Racing UK 450r narrowly beat us to 5th place at the finish; and both our teams finished on the same lap after 12 hours of racing! This win was Eichner's sixth PDV overall.

Andy Lagzdins
09-01-2004, 07:37 AM
Here's the top three teams. From L to R: Team Moto and Co./Yamaha Motor France riders Romain Couprie and Pascal DePalma in 3rd; Duncan/ATV World riders Eichner and Mitchell in 1st; and Mike Walsh's Team Quad Briel in 2nd.

Andy Lagzdins
09-01-2004, 07:41 AM
Our Duncan/ATV World TRX450R took our mostly rookie team to 6th overall against some of the world's fastest riders and quads.

Andy Lagzdins
09-01-2004, 07:45 AM
These are the top three Women's teams on the podium.

Andy Lagzdins
09-01-2004, 07:54 AM
Many thanks to Paul Rowlands for encouraging me to race the PDV and sponsoring the team. Paul is a class act and a dedicated racer. Cale set fast lap times for our team and excelled at the starts; good luck in the GNC's! I can't thank my sponsors enough: ATV World/Duncan/DirtFirst/Elka/Fox/Motorcycle Factory/IMS/Roll. I'm looking to come back next year with some experience and get on the podium. This is how I spent my summer vacation.:cool:

spud400ex
09-01-2004, 02:31 PM
Originally posted by Andy Lagzdins
Moto and Co./Yamaha Motor France fielded this fleet of immaculate YFZ's.

what kind of tires are those.

MJNOVA
09-01-2004, 02:54 PM
Andy,

Great job on the finish. It's nice to see a few other GNCC'ers out trying some different forms of ATV racing. I also look forward to going back next year and suggest others give it a try too....

Mike Novak

popo
09-01-2004, 03:54 PM
Great work Andy...... Excellant write up and photo coverage.

Karizz
09-01-2004, 05:38 PM
Great racing,great coverage,great article Andy! This is why I love EXRIDERS.COM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Admin
09-01-2004, 07:50 PM
Thanks Andy for the awesome race report from France:D

Whoops you forgot one photo:devil: :p

CatMostFeared
09-01-2004, 10:30 PM
Awesome race coverage Andy good job on the pics and everything. I hope to see you at Sparta II:D

lukester720
09-02-2004, 08:19 AM
Nice pics and coverage Andy, it must have been awesome to be able to do a race like that one!

Just one question, what where you doing in this pic? its just a statue? lol:D
http://www.exriders.com/vbb/attachment.php?postid=1229146

spincr4hire
09-02-2004, 12:08 PM
Great Pics!:cool:

4LEAFCLOVER
09-02-2004, 12:53 PM
Just wanted to know what type of tires are those on the last atv on that page? I'm the proud owner of a 2005 Honda TRX 450R and I'm looking for some tires similar to those on that bike. If you know or have a clue to what kind they are could you please let me know. Thanks

4LEAFCLOVER
09-02-2004, 12:56 PM
I'm talking about the black atv on the bottom of the first page.

cletusEX
09-02-2004, 08:43 PM
Awesome pics and congrats on the 6th place!

450Racer
09-03-2004, 06:13 PM
awesome job Andy!!! you know it's one thing to race, but reporting your race is even better!!! congrats on 6th! that's a pretty sweet acheivement. hey didn't Lassaigne's banshee blow a cyclinder last year causing him to lose his title from the year before?

Andy Lagzdins
09-03-2004, 06:22 PM
Originally posted by 450Racer
hey didn't Lassaigne's banshee blow a cyclinder last year causing him to lose his title from the year before?

What I heard was that he lost a cylinder and either barely limped it across the finish line or maybe even pushed it across to win the overall. Lassaigne was for sure the winner in 2002 & 2003. Thanks for the props, I'm hoping to do some more racing/reporting in the future.

Andy Lagzdins
09-03-2004, 06:29 PM
Originally posted by 4LEAFCLOVER
Just wanted to know what type of tires are those on the last atv on that page? I'm the proud owner of a 2005 Honda TRX 450R and I'm looking for some tires similar to those on that bike. If you know or have a clue to what kind they are could you please let me know. Thanks

They look like Hoosier TriTrac, but they might be a spinoff of the Hoosier's. The hot tires at the PDV were Goldspeed tires. The ones we used were Maxxis MX tires (they actually said Maxxis on the side of them) but they had a softer compound and had "goldspeed" hot patch logos on the sidewall.

Andy Lagzdins
09-03-2004, 06:33 PM
Originally posted by lukester720
Just one question, what where you doing in this pic? its just a statue? lol:D
http://www.exriders.com/vbb/attachment.php?postid=1229146

Don't worry, I wasn't doin' the knuckle-shuffle on my wanker!

UKRacer#17
02-13-2005, 12:35 PM
yea which black quad did u mean bc hteres two on the first page one has maxxis SX tires and the other is running goldspeed supermoto tires. also good luck to paul rowlands, who i believe is stil in hospital after a crash at weston beach race in november which left him paralyzd. he will now be running the factory honda parhomes/duncan racing team over here.