Kenny Riedmann’s currently a rising star in the Canadian Superbike series, winning the Pro Sport Bike title for the second year in a row aboard a Triumph 675R, and also earning second in the Pro Superbike series aboard a Kawasaki ZX-10R.
With the CSBK season done over a month ago, Riedmann found himself with time on his hands — time he used to go racing in France, racing for Atomic Suzuki in the 79th Bol D’Or at the Paul Ricard Circuit Le Castellet. His team finished a respectable ninth overall and fifth in Superstock class. They completed 662 laps in the 24-hr race; winners SRC Kawasaki completed 684 laps in that time.
We reached out to Riedmann to ask about his experiences. Here’s what he had to say.
CMG: How did you end up riding a Suzuki at the Bol D’Or? You’re on a Triumph in Pro Sport Bike, a Kawasaki in Pro Superbike … how did you hook up with Atomic Suzuki?
KR: My Crew Chief Scott Cameron and friend Herve Remetter put the whole deal together for me late in the season to go over and do the Bol D’Or with Atomic Motorsports. It was a spur of the moment idea for me to go over there and test for the team, gain some experience on the world stage and be an alternate for the race, but after I set the fastest qualifying lap of our team, they decided to run me in the race.
CMG: Obviously, the scene at the Bol D’Or is much different than what you’d see at a CSBK race. What differences stuck out to you?
KR: The amount of fans was insane, and the race was a huge party in the pits for the full 24hours! Besides the fact that I was riding a motorcycle, there were no other similarities at all. I’ve been racing motorcycles in CSBK and AMA/MotoAmerica for a while now, but the Bol D’Or was the first time I ever raced at night which was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done.
CMG: What was the most difficult part of the race weekend?
KR: The hardest part was trying to get some rest in between the 40 minute sessions during the race because I had to stay hydrated, eat food, discuss the bike and track conditions with the team (with a major language barrier) and spend some time with the teams massage therapists to keep me loose. After doing all that, I normally only had about 20 minutes to lay down before getting back on the bike for my next stint.
CMG: This was your first endurance race. How did you approach it? I assume that having a detuned bike, and having to manage a 24-hour race, required a much different strategy than your battles with Jordan Szoke and Jodi Christie.
KR: I approached the race thinking that everyone would essentially ride at a fast track day pace for the 24 hours. After watching the lap times of my team mate Stephane in the first stint of the race, I realized that I would have to be pushing hard for the entire 24 hours as if it were a sprint race. I was only off my qualifying time (that I set with a qualifying tire) by about 1-2 seconds a lap for the entire race, even for the night stints with 40+ lap old tires, which was pretty crazy.
CMG: Would you change your strategy next time?
KR: I wouldn’t change my strategy next time, but I would definitely change up my training program a lot coming up to the race.
CMG: Riding as the last guy on a set of well-worn tires, were there any scary moments?
KR: The tires were fairly easy to manage, what gave me a few moments here and there was the opening laps of my stints when the bike was carrying lots of weight in the 24 litre over sized gas tank, but after the first few stints I got used to it, and learnt how to ride differently with the added weight.
CMG:Â Would you try to run the event again next year? What about Canadian endurance races, in the regional series?
KR: I have already talked briefly to the guys at Atomic about going back for next year, its a long way away and I’m not sure what will happen but I would love to go back and do it again. In a perfect world with no schedule conflicts I would like to do a few of the other endurance races over there as well.
[…] while back, we told you about Kenny Riedmann’s adventures at the Bol D’Or endurance race. Now, thanks to the wonders of streaming video, you can watch his teams trials and […]