De Keyrel Racing’s first road race at Daytona!

After going to Barber and Jennings, I was feeling really good heading into Daytona. We had been living out of the van for 5 days now. Ray Rizzo lined up for us to stay with Art Lohman and his family. It was so nice of them to open up there home to us and it was great to have a bed to sleep in while in Daytona. We arrived at there house Monday night and met his wonderful family. We got a good night sleep and were ready for an awesome day! We started heading into Daytona and got a call from Scott Russell. He was wondering if I wanted to do a little cycling. I quickly changed and we headed to the track to meet Scott. We went for a 40 mile road ride down to a light house and back!

It was really cool to get to go on a bicycle ride with Scott Russell again and just get the chance to hangout!

After the 40 mile bike ride. My dad and I went to Daytona Beach to walk along the board walk. We went to the Salty Dog surf shop and got shirts for my brothers.

While we were on the board walk, we noticed a monument being built in honor of the Daytona 200. It had pictures showing the days where they raced on the beach. My dad and I started to talk to a gentlemen that was there about the monument. He said,”Here this is me. I won it in 1949, 1951-1952.” We were talking to Dick Klamfoth. It was awesome to hear his stories about racing 2 miles up A1A and then 2 miles back up the beach. I had always thought it was just on the beach. In the later years it was all on asphalt. What a great day!

Wednesday was set up day. Randy did a great job for AMA Pro Road racing with how crowded the pits were. We got in and set up our pit, had tires mounted, and put the bike on the Dyno. We wanted to know what kind of power we were making, for this motor had been in the bike since the AMA Pro Racing round at Barber last year. I got a good nights rest, and we went to the track early Thursday morning. I was ready to ride!

I went out for the first round of practice. I had one lap in and was heading into turn one. There was a rider just to the left and in front of me and another rider in front of him. We set up to go around the other rider on the outside. As we quickly closed in on him, his motor blew and he moved right in front of us. We both go on the brakes to avoid hitting him and I tucked the front and went down. There were two of us that ended up on the outside of turn one. We were in no mans land, where they would not let you leave until the session was over. I got one lap of practice in.

Morning Prayer with Bill Wyman

For Qualifying 1, I was still learning the track. I new the temperature was going to be best for Q1, so I had to learn the track quickly. It was only a 20 minute session, so that meant I only about 10 laps. My dad was my only crew member, so that also meant no pit board to let me know what times I was running. We decided I would run 4 laps come in, and my dad would let me know where I was at for times. Each time we would try to send me back on track with someone to pace, but it just never worked out. I qualified 21st. This was going to make for a tough race, if I could not improve in the morning for Q2.

We got everything loaded up and went to watch the AMA Pro Flat track races for the night. We meet up with Ray Rizzo and hung out with him in the middle. This was only my second time at a flat track event. It was very cool, but I froze my butt off.

We had to be to the track by 6am to set up hot pit for the day and get ready for qualifying 2. Qualifying 2 was at 8am and the track was really slick and cold. I spent my time learning the track and just staying up. I ended up 16th in qualifying 2 but the times were slower than the day before, so I would start 21st for the races.

Race 1, I got a pretty good start. I was working my way up towards the front. As the race went on, I started to noticed the temp gauge was going up. The bike was starting to get hot. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on with the bike. I thought about pulling in. I just kept pushing and hoped for the best. I ended up finishing 14th and got more valuable track time. When I came in my dad started to see what was going on with the bike. He noticed that in the crash the header pipe for the #4 cylinder had been flattened, but you could only see it from one side of the bike. I went and found a header section to borrow. Huge Thank You to DMS Motorsports team for allowing us to use it. We got the header installed and headed to the dyno to make sure the motor was still making power. It was still ok. We changed the oil and were ready for race 2.

The next morning we got a quick practice right away in the morning and then straight into race two!

I got a great start in race two. I was making my way closer to the front faster than the day before. I ended up getting into a group from 8-12. I knew I was running faster, but didn’t have enough to get away. I would pass them all and have about a 4 bike lead on them, coming out of the last turn. I was still just close enough that they could draft and get by me. I tried this for a couple laps, but just could not get far enough out, so they would loose the draft. I just sort of hung out in that pack. I was going to wait until the last lap and draft past for an 8th place finish. On the last lap something happened going into the kink, everyone was locking up the brakes. I did everything I could to catch the draft on the back straight, but could not make it up. I finished 12th. I was not happy. I knew I had the pace to be up front. The race was won with a 1:53.3 and I was running a 1:53.6.

Overall, we had a pretty good weekend, but we were kind of playing catch up all weekend, because of the crash in first practice. I had a good first weekend at Daytona and the track was super fun! The track was different than any other track I have ever ridden. It was a good weekend and I can’t wait for Road America!

Before we started our 24 hour drive home, we had one last stop. We went back to say Thank You to Art and his family for their hospitality and opening their home up to us. We got home on Sunday at 3pm in the afternoon and had logged in 4318 miles since we left. Thank You Lord for a great trip and keeping us safe.

Kaleb De Keyrel AMA #51

Thank You to our 2014 Sponsors: Sponsors: GOD, 1-855-CzaiaLaw.com, Grandma/Grandpa De Keyrel, CWS.net, Cortech, Sportbike Track Time, Yamaha, HJC Helmets, Tagger Designs, Dunlop, Worldwide, Motorex, Vortex, DARIUS, CoreMoto, Moto-D, Zero Gravity, Impact Armor, Galfer, Sidi, Pit Bull, Sharkskinz, TSE, Blown Concepts, TR