August 22 2016.

Rob McDonnell writes:


The biggest British entry in years will take on Europe’s best at Pont de Vaux in France next week (27th-28th of August) where almost a quarter of the entry in the 30th anniversary of the 12-hour race will feature home riders.

A total of 24 teams of the 98 starting have British or Irish interest, and some will also start as favourites for the event, which will be staged across three legs – a four-hour race on Saturday afternoon, a five hour night race, then three hours on Sunday.

The highest ranked British team, starting number four after they narrowly missed the podium in 2015, is the Team SJS Services Yamaha squad of Sheldon Seal and David Cowan, who are joined by PDV debutant, Luke Cooper.

The SJS team will also field two other teams – Harry Miller/Josh Waring/Luke Davies, and the all-female squad of Ameelie Miller/Ami Price-Draper/Amy Keitch.

Team Rocketman also fields three machines, headed by its “A-Team” of Carl Bunce, Mark McLernon and George Callaway. They will be mounted on a Yamaha. The other Rocketman teams - who will be Suzuki mounted – are the ‘Vets’ squad of Ant Barrett/Jason Wildman/Lindsey Duke and the ‘Youth’ team of Laurence Stopps/Marco Zaffino/Dafydd Davies.

The British team that will draw a lot of support from the locals is that of former British Champions Justin Reid/Paul Winrow/John Mitchell who are tackling the event on a Banshee. If it holds together, the team will put a lot of younger riders firmly in their place!

PDV regulars, Team K-ATV, field two Suzukis, with team boss Chris Keitch pairing with Sam Jeffrey and Jack Price-Draper, plus an Under 21 team consisting of Jack Naylor, Alex Bethell and Kyle Hawkes.

Former British Championship regular Jason McBeth makes a return after a couple of year’s absence alongside Nick Whetter and Darren Hurt on a Honda.

Jason’s dad, Gary, fields two Honda’s under his Fourtech ATV banner, piloted by Bradley Cockrem/Iestyn Rowlands/Connor Taylor and Roland Hopkins/Darren Jukes/Greg Fisher.

Two all-Scottish Honda teams will be flying the Saltire proudly over pitlane. The youthful Team All Scots consists of Murray Graham/Lawrence Whyte/Lorne Sinclair, while Team WBH has the more experienced Mark Hadden/Mark Wilson/Leon Beda onboard.

Two Welshman, Tom Roch and James Bevan make their PDV debuts alongside PDV regular Aaron Pole on a Yamaha under the Copperhead Racing banner.

Team MDK Roofing fields Matthew Kirk/Shane Orchard/Sam Norris on a Yamaha, Team Sharp has Geoff Sharp/Clint Eagle/Danny Smith on a Honda, and Team Powerful Racing has new boy Callum Bates joining PDV regulars Chris Murphy and Kieran Power on a Yamaha.

Last year’s Great 8 winners Bailey Edwards and Harry Walker team up on a Yamaha with Stefan Murphy in Team Zip, while Team Ireland has Jonny McKnight entered with no named team-mates at this stage.

Finally, Mark Smith and Darren McPherson will be ticking one more thing off their bucket list when they pit their TRX250 under the eponymously named Team Tubbies!

Meanwhile several British riders have paid for a seat in existing European teams, including Liam Garrett who rides alongside Benelux stars Marc de Vries and Davy De Cuyper.

Ayrton Knowles and Jack Norris join the slick Team PV Racing outfit. Knowles rides alongside Thibeau DePrince (Belgium) and Pierre Collot (France), while Norris teams up with Davino Bruneel (Belgium) and Yesley Hulshof (Holland).

The Brits will face stiff competition in France, with four teams catching the eye as potential winners. They are

* 2016 European Championship winner and runner-up Edgars Mengalis (Latvia), Adrian Mangieu (France), plus Florent Ramel (France) on a Yamaha.

* GNCC stars Jarrod McClure and Brycen Neal teaming up with fellow American and WORCS star Beau Baron on a Honda

* French stars Antoine Cheurlin and Julien Marlin alongside Belgian Randy Naveaux on a Yamaha.

* And Yamaha’s Jeremie Warnia, who is attempting again to do the event “Ironman” (he’s allowed to do 11 of the 12 hours). Mathieu Lallemand will do the other hour.

The support races are also packed with Brits. In the three hour Kenny Contest (run over two one-and-a-half hour races) there are 111 teams, including Duncan Irons/Ed Davies on a Yamaha, Gary Atkinson riding solo on a Suzuki, Nigel Mundy/Paul McConway on a Honda, Chloe Green teaming up with Holland’s Wilbert van Ginkey on a KTM, plus Simon Pritchard (Honda) and Richard Shaw (Banshee) riding solo.

In the increasingly popular youth races, nine of the 38 entries are Brits; Scot Irons, Dillon Stepney, Dylan McKenna, Alfie Walker, Joe Jukes, Josh Talent, Dean Dillon, Alice Kirkby and Josh Birch.

You can follow the progress of all the Brits via live timing, which you can access on the event website at www.pdvracing.com via Twitter at @BritishQX and in a full race report and pictures here at www.quad-online.co.uk the day after the race.