29 August 2016.

Event date: 27-28th August 2016
Words: Rob McDonnell
Pictures: Anthony Brebant & Rob McDonnell

Two top British teams were denied possible podium finishes at Europe’s biggest quad race, the Pont de Vaux 12-hour, in sweltering France this weekend. For the Rocketman squad, it was a mechanical problem in the very last hour, while Team SJS were the victim of a dubious ruling from a pit lane official.


Carl Bunce (47) battles for the lead in the opening race with Randy Naveaux (2)

The Rocketman line-up of team-stalwart Carl Bunce, plus Mark McLernon and George Callaway, had edged onto the overall leaderboard halfway through the decisive three-hour final race when a breather pipe came off the head of their Yamaha forcing them to stop for emergency repairs. Despite losing four laps they recovered from to 31st by the end of the stint but it knocked them back to seventh overall

Prior to that the SJS Yamaha team of Sheldon Seal, David Cowan and PDV debutant Luke Cooper were docked two-minutes for allegedly speeding in the pits while they were sitting in second spot during the five-hour night race, dropping them to sixth. Seal/Cowan/Cooper still managed to finish in fourth overall place – matching the squad’s fine performance at last year’s event.


Sheldon Seal prepped three finishing quads at Pont de Vaux including his own fourth placed finisher

Overall victory went to the Yamaha team of French stars Antoine Cheurlin and Julien Marin and the Belgian, Randy Naveaux, who completed a total of 176 laps thanks to a third place in race one, second in race two, then victory in the critical final race.

In the opening four-hour race in 35-degree heat on Saturday, 2014 winner and pole setter, Jeremie Warnia dominated the early laps stretching out a healthy lead and setting the fastest lap of the race. However, when he pitted for fuel and switched with his slower team-mate, Mathieu Lallemand, they never regained the ground and ended the race fifth.


Ameelie Miller (35) was part of the all-female British team that finished 57th

The Rocketman team were in contention for much of the early stages, but slipped to an eventual seventh after first a crash from Bunce, plus an earlier-than-scheduled pit stop to relieve McLernon, who was starting to struggle in the sweltering conditions.

Various teams took a turn at the front as the pit stops unraveled, however it was the sole American team, made up of GNCC stars Brycen Neal and Jarrod McClure, plus WORCS star Beau Baron, who timed the race perfectly by moving into lead for the first time with around ten minutes to go to eventually win by over a minute and half. However, their luck ran out in the five-hour night race when Neal stopped inside the first hour. Struggling to restart the Honda, which also needed a stop for repairs, the Americans dropped out of the top 50, but staged an impressive comeback to ninth at the 1am finish. In race three they DNF’d after a bottom-end failure.


Kyle Hawkes (26) looks for some room off the start of the night

Victory in race two, again by around minute and half, went to the team of 2016 European Champion Edgars Mengelis, from Latvia, and Frenchmen Adrian Mangieu and Florent Ramel who ended the event in third overall.

Heading into the final three-hour race on Sunday afternoon any of eight teams were left with a potential chance of a podium place, with Mangieu/Mangelis/Ramel leading van Grinsven/Renson/Boissy by just eight seconds on a combined 131 laps each, with Cheulin/Marin/Naveaux a further 39 seconds behind. The Rocketman squad was one lap adrift.


Jarrod McClure of the powerful American team on his way to victory in race one. Their luck ran out there

McLernon initially led the field out for a few laps before slipping back to a safe fifth. Then when the Mangelis team lost two laps mid-race with a mechanical issue, Rocketman was promoted up to third overall, only for disaster to strike in the final hour.

With almost a quarter of the 98 starting teams being British, or having a British rider, there were many other top twenty performances.


John Mitchell pilots the Banshee on one of the rare laps it wasn’t in the pits!

Veterans Ant Barrett, Lindsey Duke and Jason Wildman were next up in 13th, despite losing two laps overnight when their large alloy tank split. Barrett also crashed in the last race. They inherited the place in the dying minutes from teenagers Harry Walker and Bailey Edwards, who were teamed with Stefan Murphy. A suspected fuel pump failure stopped their Yamaha with the flag in sight, and despite completing 160 laps they were classed as non-finishers as they did not pass the flag in the final lap!

Jack Norris, riding in the slick French PV Racing team was next Brit in 15th, two places ahead of PDV first-timers Harry Miller and Josh Waring, plus Luke Davies, who rode a mature race throughout to 17th.

Veteran Chris Murphy, backed up by ‘young guns’ Callum Bates and Keran Murphy were the final British team in the top 20.


The Scottish team of Leon Beda/Mark Hadden/Mark Wilson qualified an impressive sixth and finished 26th

Unluckily, the much-heralded team of three ex-British Champions – Justin Reid, Paul Winrow and John Mitchell, on a 12-year-old Yamaha Banshee - fizzled out with persistent ignition problems leaving as non-finishers.

The three hour Kenny Cup support race, run over two one and half hour stints, saw Duncan Irons/Ed Davies the highest British finishers in tenth of the 110 teams.

In the youth races, Northern Ireland’s Dean Dillon took overall victory, thanks to two dominant wins, plus a second in the final race behind Italy’s Paolo Galizzi. Alfie Walker took overall victory in the ‘Minime’, sub class.


Kieran Power put in some strong stints on the Team Powerful Yamaha to help secure 20th

Overall: 1 Cheurlin/Marin/Naveaux (Yamaha), 2 van Grinsven/Renson/Boissy (Yamaha), 3 Mangieu/Mengelis/Ramel (Yamaha), 4 Sheldon Seal/Luke Cooper/David Cowan (Yamaha), 5 Warnia/Lallemand (Yamaha), 6 Beroudiaux/Vlaeymans/Lardellier (Yamaha)

British: 7 Carl Bunce/Luke Cooper/George Callaway (Yamaha), 13 Ant Barrett/Jason Wildman/Lindsey Duke (Suzuki), 15 Jack Norris/Davino Bruneel/Yesley Hulsof (Yamaha), 17 Harry Miller/Josh Waring/Luke Davies (Yamaha), 20 Chris Murphy/Kieran Power/Callum Bates (Yamaha), 22 Jonny McKnight/Steve Atkins/Terrance Mackin (Yamaha), 24 Ayrton Knowles/Thibeau DePrince/Pierre Collet (Yamaha), 26 Mark Hadden/Mark Wilson/Leon Beda (Honda), 28 Liam Garbett/Marc de Vries/Davy de Cuyper (Yamaha), 30 Jason McBeth/Darren Hurt/Nick Whetter (Honda), 31 Aaron Pole/James Bevan/Tom Roch (Yamaha), 32 Chris Keitch/Sam Jeffery/Jack Price-Draper (Suzuki), 35 Alex Bethell/Kyle Hawkes/Jack Naylor (Suzuki), 37 Geoff Sharp/Clint Eagle/Danny Smith (Honda), 42 Murray Graham/Lawrence Whyte/Lorne Sinclair (Honda), 51 Matthew Kirk/Shane Orchard/Sam Norris (Yamaha), 54 Roland Hopkins/Darren Jukes/Greg Fisher (Honda), 57 Ameelie Miller/Ami Price-Draper/Amy Keitch (Suzuki), 70 Mark Smith/Darren McPherson (Honda), 73 Bradley Cockrem/Iestyn Rowlands/Connor Taylor (Honda). Non-finishers: Harry Walker/Bailey Edwards/Stefan Murphy (Yamaha), Justin Reid/Paul Winrow/John Mitchell (Yamaha), Laurence Stopps/Marco Zafino/Dafydd Davies (Suzuki)


Stefan Murphy of the ZIP team starts race three only for disaster to strike

Race one (four hours): 1 Baron/McClure/Neal (59 laps), 2 van Ginsven/Renson/Boissy (59), 3 Cheurlin/Marin/Naveaux (59), 4 Mangieu/Mengelis/Ramel (59), 5 Warnia/Lallemand (58), 6 Seal/Cooper/Cowan (58).
Race two (five hours): 1 Mangieu/Mengelis/Ramel (72 laps), 2 Cheulin/Marin/Naveaux (72), 3 van Grinsven/Renson/Boissy (72), 4 Bunce/McLernon/Callaway (72), 5 Warnia/Lallemand (71), 6 Seal/Cowan/Cooper (71).
Race three (three hours): 1 Cheurlin/Marin/Naveaux (44 laps), 2 van Grinsven/Renson/Boissy (44), 3 Cavigliasso/Altieri (44), 4 Seal/Cowan/Cooper (44), 5 Beroudiaux/Vlaeymans/Lardellier (43), 6 Alexis Berdon/Jimmy Decombe/Peeter Collart (43)


George Callaway’s body language speaks volumes as Rocketman lose out on a podium in the dying minutes