August 23 2015.

Words and pictures: Rob McDonnell

Europe’s biggest quad race – the Pont de Vaux 12-hour in France – ended in chaos today when rain washed out the third and final race, leaving the top British team agonisingly close to a podium finish in fourth overall.


Sheldon Seal, David Cowan and Mike van Grinsven were fourth overall

After an hour of the three-hour final leg the red flag went out as problems with the electronic timekeeping struck. Despite fixing it, constant rain led to cancellation altogether an hour and a half later.

Instead, the overall result was based on Saturday’s four and five-hour races, which had been held on hot dry conditions, which gave victory to the leading French Yamaha team of Romain Couprie/Yoann Guillouin/Jay Clement, who completed 134 laps. Second, 2m 45s behind them, were fellow Frenchmen, Antoine Cheurlin/Julien Marin/Randy Naveaux, with Italians Andrea Cesari/Mastronardi/Mauro Perazzolo one lap adrift in third.


Michael McAneney, Justin Reid and Mark McLernon were sixth overall

The decision to stop was bitter sweet for Team SJS from Britain (Sheldon Seal/David Cowan/Mark van Grinsven) who led a group of three teams on 132 laps in fourth spot, and who had enjoyed a trouble-free run up to that point. “It’s brilliant we finished fourth,” said Seal, “But we were also ready to push on if that final race restarted. We had done a quick tyre change and we were doing good times in the mud. “

Northern Ireland’s Justwin team of Justin Reid/Mark McLernon/Michael McAneney were also on 132 laps, 1m 42s behind Team SJS at the start of race three. Their sixth place overall finish marked a one-place improvement over last year’s result for Reid and McLernon. Last year they rode with British Champion Paul Winrow, but he had switched to Rocketman Suzuki (Carl Bunce/Paul Winrow/Joe Maessen) this year. However, they withdrew after Bunce crashed heavily in race one when his throttle stuck approaching a table top and caused extensive damage, then the engine seized in the race two.


Jack Price Draper (35) and Emma McQuad (50) right in the mix

Other pre-event favourites who were out of luck included the French duo of Jeremie Warnia and Jeremy Forrestier who went out early with a broken valve, and the American ‘all-star’ team of Adam McGill/Josh Upperman/Jeremy Rastrelli. They led several times until the night session when they were docked time for having faulty lights, plus had to replace a tie rod after hitting a bale. They ended up eighth overall.

The next highest placed British rider was Emma McQuaid from Northern Ireland – currently ranked the 31st fittest women in the world on the Crossfit rankings – who put in a big night time session when she ran as high as tenth at one point. It helped take the Goldspeed Girls team (Emma McQuaid/Sina Willman/Amandine Dorey to 20th overall.


British champion Paul Winrow (29) leads Sheldon Seal (42) and American superstar Adam McGill (100)

The ‘junior’ Rocketman Suzuki (Bailey Edwards/Harry Walker/Laurence Stopps) ended a respectable 21st of the 91 starters. In the night Stopps had to pit when the swingarm pivot almost came out, then in race three Edwards had a high-speed straight line crash in the mud.

Next up was Team K-ATV (Chris Keitch/Jack Price Draper/Sam Jeffrey) in 25th who had relatively trouble free runs apart from some tyre problems.

Scotland’s former British Champion, John Mitchell, teamed up with quick teenagers Murray Graham and Lawrence Whyte in Team AllScots and showed he’s still a force to be reckoned with. However a blown rear shock and a blown oil plug meant they ended 29th.


The start of race one at Pont de Vaux, with Paul Winrow (29) centre

Fellow Scots – multi (solo) British Supersport champ John Crawford/Barry Main/David Vass in Team Four Tech were next up in 40th spot and had no major issues, unlike their Four Tech Team mates Roland Hopkins/Darren Jukes/Kieran Heath who had to do a full engine swap and had two broken stators, which left them 84th.

Team MDK (Matthew Kirk/Gary Aldington/Jason Wildman) were 43rd after they were hampered by front brake problems, which caused Kirk to crash heavily in the night. Team NORA-MX (Chris Murphy/Kieran Power/Aaron Pole) were three places behind them and reported no problems.


Kieran Power jumps the famous Pont de Vaux bridge

Former British championship regular Leon Beda turned heads when he qualified the all-Scottish Team WBH (Leon Beda/Mark Wilson/Mark Hadden) in third place, however a string of issues kept them down in 34th. They had more luck than the fourth Scottish outfit, Team DAS (Paul Davie/Shaun Stewart/Gary Atkinson), who were accredited with 83rd spot after a faulty regulator meant their machine never ran right. They were two places behind Team Graffix Shack (Liam Garbutt/Chloe Green/Marco Zaffino) who had to swap an engine in race one, then the quad caught fire in race two!

The increasingly popular youth event, which this year attracted 38 starters, saw Brits win two of the three heats. Ayrton Knowles won race two, in blazing sunshine, which helped him to third overall. While Dean Dillon from Northern Ireland showed everyone how to ride in the rain and mud, winning race three. He was eighth overall. Alfie Walker was 15th, Reece Swann 20th, Joe Jukes 23rd and Alice Kirkby 24th.


Winner Romainn Couprie of France heads Italy’s Andrea Cesari

In the three-hour, two-leg Kenny Cup support race English veterans Stuart Walker and Ant Barrett secured ninth overall in the competitive field of 82 teams. Northern Ireland’s Johnny McKnight and Paul McConway also used their experience to post 13th overall, while Richard Shaw rode solo and ended in 76th place.

Results:
Overall 1 Romain Couprie/Yoann Gillouin/Clement Jay (Yamaha), 2 Antoine Cheurlin/Julien Marin/Randy Naveaux (Yamaha), 3 Andrea
Cesari/Simone Mastronardi/Mauro Perazzolo

(Yamaha), 4 Sheldon Seal/David Cowan/Mike van Grinsven (Yamaha), 5 Edgars Mengelis/Adrian Mangieu/Florent Ramel (Yamaha), 6 Justin Reid/Mark McLernon/Michael McAneny

Race one: 1 Antoine Cheurlin/Julien Marin/Randy Naveaux, 2 Romain Couprie/Yoann Gillouin/Clement Jay, 3 Adam McGill/Josh Upperman/Jeffrey Rastrelli (Honda), 4 Arnaud Thiry/Valentin Renson/Salvadore Bruno (Yamaha), 5 Andrea Cesari/Simone Mastronardi/Mauro Perazzolo, 6 Edgars Mengelis/Adrian Mangieu/Florent Ramel

Race two: 1 Romain Couprie/Yoann Gillouin/Clement Jay, 2 Antoine Cheurlin/Julien Marin/Randy Naveaux, 3 Andrea
Cesari/Simone Mastronardi/Mauro Perazzolo, 4 Sheldon Seal/David Cowan/Mike van Grinsven, 5 Justin Reid/Mark McLernon/Michael McAneny, 6 Edgars Mengelis/Adrian Mangieu/Florent Ramel.


Northern Ireland's Dean Dillon