Lewis sits down wth FMD Racing’s newest signing, the young gun that is Rudi Eichorn about his plans for the season ahead.
The Seagraves have taken young Rudi Eichorn under their wings and brought him into the FMD Racing programme for the season ahead.
Lewis has a chat with him about getting the suspension soft enough and tuck no-handers.
Photos by Sam Dugon.
Tell us about yourself and how long you have been riding for.
I live in Bath I’m 12 year old I started racing BMX when I was about 4 and moved onto downhill as soon as I could, I started racing at the Forest of Dean races and Gawton.
I’ve been lucky as we have always been on holiday in the Alps so grew up riding over there. I have always had my brother Obi to chase as he used to race DH also, so have spent a lot of years going to races watching him and I couldn’t wait until I could start racing myself.
I have grown up around downhill and have been lucky enough to meet and know some amazing riders and I cant wait to start racing on the big tracks now.
How did the offer from FMD come about?
I ride a lot with Dennis Luffman, he also rides for FMD and we met up with Kaos and Tahnee and had a good session together then my dad got a call from Tony Seagrave and it all went from there.
We then had a trip to their place to check out the bike and to see if it would fit me and yeah it was amazing everyone was really friendly and made me feel at home
What are you hoping to learn from the team this year and where will we see you in action?
Working with a pro set up and how that helps you focus on racing. And also looking forward to building on the race experience that I have had so far and stepping it up to race all the nationals and Pearce rounds.
I have ridden loads of the tracks already so it will be great to actually get to race them Fort William is definitely the one that I am most excited about this year as I have never ridden there before.
Are you most looking forward to riding with, Tahnee or Kaos?
Both because they are both senders.
Kaos has amazing style so super excited to pull proper tricks with him, and Tahnee has loads of race experience so cant wait to get race advice from her and learn from all of her experience
How are you finding the new bike and how have you adjusted it to suit you?
It’s insane, Jake (FMD’s mechanic) didn’t have to do very much to get it to fit me a bit of suspension adjustment and a shorter stem to help me reach the bars dropping the forks a bit too, the hard thing with being so light is getting the suspension to work for me and making it soft enough.
There are plenty of videos of you riding big jumps and tricks, what’s the next trick up you’re sleeve?
Tuck-no hander. It’s a trick ive been building up to. I have got my suicide no–handers dialled and this is the next on my list so riding with Kaos hopefuly I will get it dialled soon.
We know you have a lot of riding buddies who now ride World Cup, who influenced you the most while growing up?
Laurie Greenland. I’ve know him forever, he is best mates with my brother Obi and they have ridden together since they were tiny. So he has always been around. We were in Lenzerheide when he won his first World Cup in juniors which was so cool, his race run was insane.
He is always really positive and encouraging and has got so much style on a bike and he is small like me. I love his style of riding so I try to mirror my it.
What’s your future plans for the future and how will FMD help you?
I want to race World Cups so riding for FMD is a massive step towards that goal. Being around a professional team that has already taken a number of people into that world and I will get to be a part of the whole set up and see just what goes into getting to that point.
What do you want to achieve from the 2019 season?
I am aiming to get on the podium at every race, but also mainly having fun at each one.
I have raced in some fairly extreme weather changes/conditions so I know you have to be able to change your race plan quickly so getting more experience will be cool.
Lastly, there must be people who you would like to thank?
The Seagraves for giving me this sick opportunity and my parents for taking me riding so much.
