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2007 Maxxis 21st Annual
Pont de Vaux 12 Hour ATV Race
Pont de Vaux, France
August 24-26, 2007
Photos
By: Holz Racing & BFelix
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Holz Racing Mark Holz
& Josh Frederick Podium at Pont
de Vaux
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Despite the rough conditions of the track, and a
couple of one minute penalties, the Holz Racing/Douglas
Wheel team, consisting of Mark Holz, Josh Frederick,
and Sergio Gilli, managed to be the highest placing
U.S. team, taking a 3rd place position on the podium.
Reflecting on his team’s performance, Mark
stated, “It feels good to place so high for
my first time here. It was a little bittersweet
though. We were only about 20 seconds off from 2nd
place. We didn’t really know we were that
close or we would have pushed even harder.”
He said. “We were two laps down, off the leader,
and then at 2am someone said we were in third place
overall. Then we thought ‘Wow, we really have
a shot at this!’” He said enthusiastically.
Even though Holz’s team didn’t win,
“We were still really happy. It was really
cool. The bike ran great, we had really good support
and a great team!” Said Mark. “There’s
a pretty good chance I’ll be coming back here
next year.”
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| Holz
Racing's Frederick, Holz, and Gilli secured
a 3rd Overall Finish on a Suzuki LTR450
Quad Racer
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In a race where consistency and reliability matter
more than speed, Holz and Frederick credit teammate
Sergio Gilli for the construction and reliability
of their Suzuki LTR 450. “We sent him Holz
Racing A-arms and a steering stem, and some Fox
shocks that we revalved and some Douglas Wheels,
among other things, and Sergio put the whole quad
together for us.” Stated Holz. “He
did a great job!”
Unfortunately, Natalie, and Eichner’s teams
were not so lucky. They both suffered mechanical
issues during the race, which put Honda of France
(Natalie’s team) in 95th place and Team
Polaris in 100th. Despite engine problems putting
a damper on things for Eichner and his team, Doug
still remained optimistic for next years race.
“I’d like to be able to come back
and win just one more time at least.” He
said determinedly. “We had a really good
team strategy and I think if we can keep the bike
going, we have a really good shot at winning it
again.” According to Doug, the night session
is part of where that team strategy comes into
play. “I like riding during the night session.
A lot of riders slow way down at night, but my
night lap times are usually pretty comparable
to my day lap times. ”
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| John
Natalie Jr |
Doug
Eichner |
According to sources, John Natalie, Jr. had some
of the fastest lap times of anyone, however his
team encountered their fair share of engine problems
as well. Their main engine blew during practice
so they made a quick swap before the race began,
but to no avail. During the race, Natalie and
his team were doing very well until they encountered
problems with the pivot bolt that resulted in
a cracked engine case and ended things early for
team Honda of France.
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Belgium's
Team Piron defended their title and secured
the 2007 win on a Yamaha YFZ450
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Team Piron from Belgium ended up with the win
for this year’s event on their Yamaha YFZ450.
The trio, consisting of Alexandre Piron, Stéphane
Piron, and Guy Meertens had an incredible run
without any major complications or mechanical
issues and finished the race with almost a three
minute lead between them and second place. The
French team, called Team Race, clenched second
place with an overall time of 12:11:39.
At it’s conclusion, the 12 Hours of Pont
de Vaux has once again proved to be as challenging
and unpredictable as ever; but even after a grueling
12 hours, on a brutal track, you can surely bet
that most racers are already planning out new
strategies and experimenting with different quad
set ups in hopes of overcoming mechanical failure
and fatigue to win next years championship.
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