Photos : Alain Lebihan - ALB impression Cluny

After pessimistic forecasts in the early morning, the weather is getting better.

After the night round, the addition of the time shows a very hard fight between the Frenchmen Lassaigne/Lamet, the Dutchmen brusselers/Maessen with Leroy from Belgium and the English/American duo Winrow/Eichner. These two quads are neck and neck, they are at only 2 laps after the n°2. everybody is looking at them however behind them there are the pretenders who are waiting :The English teams haywood/Hand/Davies n°7 and Davies/Duke/Baldwin n°3 belong to the same racing stable Duncan/ATV as n°1 but with a Yamaha 4 stroke, the Bombardier n°18 riden by the Frenchmen Kuhnl/Allard and de Villiers coming from South Africa, the CT racing team n ° 21 Grandlund/Stuart/reid...All those pilots have proved that they can drive very fast. So fast that they can be dangerous.

For once, Cyril Lamet leaves Paul Winrow abruptly, this one take the revenge at the first curve with a hard braking. But because of the refuelling, the ranking of the round changes drastically, after one hour, the first are Grandlund, Neill, and Haywood. When all the pilots stopped to refuel, we can get a better idea of the ranking Lassaigne 1 minute before Eichner and 2 before Grandlund , in the depths of the ranking are Van der Laan, Bof or the Spanish team Serra/Serra/Irrigoyen. The team PSR from Pont de Vaux managed by Brice Mazarico remains at the "top ten".

the sun is hot, the dust is everywhere, the machines and the pilots are exhausted.. Breaks down are common, returns to the pits are frequent but the end of the race is close, Lassaigne, Grandlund then Eichner. But at 300 meters before the arrival, the n°2 comes back pushing his quad ! It's the public's atonishment when the 21 which was at one lap makes short work of him. But Lassaigne/Lamet succeed in getting over the squared flag in 2nd position just before Doug Eichner. With the total of the 3 rounds, the French pilots are the winners and the Marseillaise is heard on the meadow of Pont de Vaux. Winrow/Eichner 2nd with 2 laps, don't carry off a thrid victory. The n°21 makes a very nice race and finishes at the 3 rd step of the podium.

This 16th race will go down in the history as an exceptional good one, not only thanks to the quality of the pilots but also thanks to the fringe activities.. The waiting until next year will be difficult !

Photos : Alain Lebihan - ALB impression Cluny

The pilots are impatient, they are waiting for the signal for start which is given with nearly half an hour late. This night round will be long, 5 hours. Once more Paul Winrow is the first followed by Greg Lassaigne, Grandlund, Mazarico and Serra Domenech.

But coup de theatre, after some hundred meters , Grandlund comes back to the pits pushing his Yamaha and Winrow doesn't run anymore at the 2nd lap. Lassaigne/Lamet take advantage and are far away Rowlands, Davies, Serra, eliot and Pinchon. The American trio n°21 restart with a lap behind the pack but the 2000/2001 winners waste time releasing the rear brakes, they are at the 40th position. As for Simons/Chevrot they are trying to come up and are at the 4th position at the 2nd hour of this really magical round.

The night of the 12 Hours is a magical time : the uninterrupted flow of quads, the ballet of the mechanics in the pits, the general panic when the pilot comes back earlier than foreseen....

Whereas Lassaigne/Lamet with their quad are following their festival, unexpected teams are showing up : Kuhnl (winner in 1994)/Allard/de Villiers reach the 6th rank after 3 hours followed by Haywood/hand/Davies. Winrow/Eichner very furios because of their stop and go in the 1st round (excessively fast riding in the pit and their rear brake break down at the beginning are coming up and reach the 4th position at one hour before the end of the round. The team n° 73 Ten Vregelaar/Albrecht doesn't stop coming up whereas on the contrary Irons/Elliott/Davies are sinking into the depths of the ranking as well as Vanderlaan/Abgrall/Gaillard with their VLS.

The team n°2 will never been disturbed until the drop of squared flag. The French team n°36 Dorey/Debouck/Tusset reaches a nice 7th rank just before the n°18 and N°9 Mazarico/Monin/Pion. Unless an incident occurs, there is a great chance that Gregory Lassaigne and Cyril Lamet are the final winners but the numbers 6, 27 and 1 are waiting for the least weakness.

And what if the Marseillaise was heard on Sunday afternoon in PDV ?

Photos : Alain Lebihan - ALB impression Cluny

At 3.00 pm, the race director Jean Louis Staelens lowers the flag. The start of the 1st round , like the 24 hours of le Mans allows Paul WInrow to be the first. Last year he made the holeshot in each rounds, he arrived at the first curve before the Banshee n°21 CT racing (Grandlund/Stuart/Reid) (USA), Rowlands/Mitchell/Waggott n°6 GB? Suzuki LTZ N°11 Gobert/De Palma/Estelle (F) Banshee n°8 Neill/Tordoff/ Forster and VLS N°4 Vanderlaan (NL°/Gaillard/Abgrall.

The weather is good. During several laps the numbers 1, 6 et 21 are wheel by wheel and are far ahead the other riders. Thanks to the tailback in front of the timing post because of the bottleneck, our 3 adversaries reach the pack and make the junction at the middle of the 3rd lap. After only half an hour Johnny Simons stops at the post 15, track rod destroyed. Mechanics do their best in order to change the engine "We want to do something during the night round and above all on Sunday". Another top team is at the end of the ranking, the Bof brothers with Jimmy Fevre break a camshaft in the box of their 400 Polaris. They start again with 20 laps late. Very quickly, like a rocket Grégory Lassaigne (Banshee n°2) passes all the adversaries, reaches Paul Winrow and is now at only 1.5 second behind him at the end of the 1st hour . Behing the things are getting heated between Brusselers (VLS/KTM n°27) , Granlund, Haywood (Raptor n°7) and Neill (Banshee n°8) .

At the 2nd hour, Lassaigne/Tusset (F) hit 45 seconds before Winrow (GB)/Eichner (USA), Brusselers stays at the 3rd just before Rowlands/Mitchell/Waggott. At 6.00 pm at the drop of the squared flag, the n°2 is the 1st. This is worth noting the 6th rank of Ten Vregelaar (NL)/Albrecht (D) with their KTM 540 N°73 and the regional team Mazarico/Monin/Pion (Banshee)nN°9 at the 11th position.

Photos : Alain Lebihan - ALB impression Cluny

The practices of the 12 Hours of PDV started at 10.00 on Saturday 24 August, the track was fat because of the rain the night before.

This 16th race of the World ATV race welcome 120 quads rided by 2 or 3 pilots according the team. 15 nationalities are represented with the elite of the pilots. Some of them are coming from the other side of the world and we can note the presence of pilots coming from South Africa, USA, Poland, Germany and Great Britain. Two girl teams this year : the 88, with Florence Jeanjean, Nathalie Manzano and Laurence Perdriau and the 69 with Marie-Christine Meynier and Patricia Chareyron.

As for the machines, the 4 stroke arrive in force 650 Bombardier, 660 Yamaha Raptor and above all for a lot of people it is the discovery of the new 400 Suzuki LTZ entered by Suzuki France. Seven VLS equipped with 540 or 560 KTM, the brand of the pilot/builder Wil van der Laan will be looked on as scarecrow or the 350 Yamaha Banshee now indispensable. Paul WIntrow and Doug Eichner , the last two editions winners chose the 350 Yamaha Banshee with a Laeger frame. On the other hand, we are aware that the 250 Honda TRX is going to disappear as there is only two machines.

This year the track has been modified, the asphalted part has been removed so the layout is faster and becomes a real boulevard for the pilots, it allows the faster pilots to pass but also avoid less important mechanical constraints. Please note that the practice are not precisely qualifying as the 120 quads can race. In fact it is a mean to determine the positions on the first round grid which will start at 3.00 pm

Will van der Laan ( VLS new generation) with his teammates Gaillard and Abgrall, are the first2'42''762 before Lassaigne/Lamet (Banshee), Winrow/Eichern Banshee and Brusseleers /Maessen/Leroy (VLS-KTM). However lots of pilots have saved their machine : we know it, we say it and we repeat it in Pont de Vaux speed is not enough, you have to hold out. In 2000 and 2001 WInrow and Eichner have shown their strength. Who could make them beat the dust this year ? the answer on Sunday at 5.00 pm

Photos : Alain Lebihan - ALB impression Cluny

The Quad Contest starts on Sunday at 9.00, just before the 12 Hours. For the first time the pilots will race on the totality of the circuit. A great opportunity for the pilots to compare their time with those realised by the best pilots on the best machines of the world. Of course, the difference is important as Lassaigne/Lamet have a steady speed 2'50" whereas the leader of the Contest Jean Pierre Nowaczyk (n°32) has never gone under 2'59" with his VLS New generation fitted with a 540 KTM engine. This is worth nothing that the later has been riding for 1 year and 1/2, furthermore his machine can't be compared with the "Formula 1" of the Mondial. And above all, this time would allow him to be 60th on the starting grid of the Mondial : not so bad !

Only 46 quads out of 49 entered start (there were some breakages during the practices). The n°32 very fast is the leader very closely followed by Etienne Legendre, Banshee n°16 less faster and the team n° 36Jean Philippe Genty/Cyril Chevrot Honda TRX. Very quickly the gap between those three ones and the others pilots is widening but Roblin/Bonte cling to them. After 8 laps the n°49, 40 and 18 abandon.

At the 6th lap, the 4 leaders catch up the last who ride with nearly 30 seconds less fast. Legendre passes Nowaczyk , the leader, whereas he is refuelling. But the race director waves the squared flag at 11.00, Legendre is the winner with 1"9/10th before the n°32. So Etienne Legendre, 13th at the Quad Contest 2001, wins his entry to the 12 Hours 2003. A Christmas gift before Christmas.

With the Quad Passion magazine partnership, since 2001 the Quad Contest offers the opportunity to enjoy the quad racing with a basic preparation as the race only lasts 2 hours. However, at 12.15 on Saturday at the practices, we can notice some machines particularly well fitted with frame or engine. Each quad can be ride by one or two pilots. machines are the same as for the 12 Hours, Yamaha 350 cc3 Banshee 2 stroke or 660 cc3 Raptor 4 Stroke and 650 cc3 Bombardier. There are also some Honda (TRX 2 stroke and EX 4 stroke) as weel as a VLS (built by Will van der Laan from Holland) with a 540 cc3 KTM.

Jean Pierre Nowacsyk (32) is in the lead place with 3'01"951 before Jean Philippe Genty/Cyril Chevrot (Honda 300 TRX n°36) with 3'01"993 and Etienne Legendre (Yamaha Banshee n°16) with 3'02"099. We can see some good fights between the machines as the track has been packed by the pilots of the 12 Hours. After half an hour praticing, every pilot can lavishes care on his quad for the 2 hours race which will start at 9.00 am on Sunday.