2011
Maxxis 25th Annual Pont de Vaux 12 Hour
ATV Race Pont de Vaux, France
August 20-22, 2011
By: Bill Lanphier |
|
2011 25th Maxxis Pont
de Vaux 12 Hour ATV Endurance Race
::Continued::
|
After 12 hours of racing, sometimes the spread
between front runners is huge. In the late 90s,
Americans Tim Farr, Shane Hitt, and Harold Goodman
had such a huge lead over second place at PDV,
they literally could have shut down and started
to party fifteen minutes before the checkers fell.
|
|
|
Hundreds
of ATV race teams were in attendance to
participate in the 25th running of the 12
ATV Endurance Race at Pont de Vaux |
Not so this year, however. After eleven-and-a-half
hours of racing, the top three teams were all
on the same lap (and within 3 minutes of one another).
When the checkers fell, Frenchman Romain Couprie's
team had the very slight edge and took the win.
Look for a full report on the exciting event right
here soon.
 |
Quad Briel's
Can-Am ATV Race team including America's
Joel Hetrick & Travis Moore ran into
some bad luck with a mechanical error
that took them out of the race despite
there fast pace
|
There was no disputing that the Can-Am mounted team
including Americans Joel Hetrick and Travis Moore
had the speed and consistency to win the event.
But mechanical issues took them out of the running.
The final blow was four breaks in the front frame
members near the front of the upper A-arm mounts.
The team thought that factory updates might have
solved this problem, but 12 hours of pounding on
a rough course by some of the world's fastest riders
took its toll.
Frenchman Romain Couprie has taken his second
consecutive win at the 12 Hours of Pont de Vaux.
The three-man team won only one of the three sessions,
but still ran a fast and flawless race. Their
only stops were for fuel and rider changes. A
team of two Frenchmen took the win in two sessions,
but settled for a second overall in the final
standings.
|
|
| French
Rider Romain Couprie took his second consecutive
win at the Maxxis 12 Hours of Pont de Vaux
aboard his Yamaha YFZ450R ATV |
Two British riders took this Suzuki, one of three
in the top ten, to third overall. The UK is less
than a day's drive from France, and the 12 Hours
always attracts many riders from there.
Yep, the 12 Hours of Pont de Vaux is a big deal,
and there's nothing like it anywhere else. Each
of the three sessions begins with a LeMans-style
start: riders sprint to the quads, fire them up,
and 100 race machines thunder to life.
|
|
| For
the thousands of spectators, it's a tough
call deciding whether to watch some of the
world's fastest ATV Racers battling one
another at near-triple digit speeds, or
watch the Bomb Squad flip ATVs & snowmobiles |
Like at the 24 Hours of LeMans (also in France),
track lighting is minimal at PDV and it's imperative
to have strong aftermarket lighting systems for
the quads. Despite the high speeds and dust, rear
enders at night are rare. And, with a 30 mph differential
between the fastest and slowest machines, it'd
be way ugly.
|
