Trip started out with a 17 1/2 hour drive to Barber Motor Sports Park, which just happens to be my favorite track on the AMA Pro Road racing circuit. On our way down to Barber, we stopped in Nashville Tennessee and had dinner with Raymond and Lois Rizzo at his favorite restaurant O’Charleys.

After we stopped and ate with Raymond Rizzo, we then made the rest of the 3 1/2 hour trip to Barber Motor Sports Park. Once we got there, we waited a little bit to get in. AMA Pro Road Racing did an awesome job making sure everyone got in with plenty of time to set up for the two day event. My Dad, Brother Mason, Grandpa D, Uncle Al and mom got everything set up. I went for a road bicycle ride to get some training in before the weekend started, and ended up popping a tube and had to walk 5 miles back to Barber Motorsports Park. That was great way to start the weekend. I got a good nights rest, because we had a big day coming up.

Saturday morning Super Sport was on track at 8 AM for Qualifying 1, I was feeling really good in the first qualifying session. I was running a pretty good pace and Penske had the suspension pretty dialed in right from the start. Mike and Scotty made a couple small adjustments and we continued to get better throughout the day. I ended Qualifying 1 in 4th place. Mike and Scotty made a small change to the bike to get it ready for Qualifying 2.

I felt really good right off the bat in Qualifying 2. I came in and made some adjustments throughout the session. Mike with Penske Suspension had given me a really good set up for the race. My fastest lap time in that session was a 1:30.2. That would mean I would start 4th for the race. I knew I had a great set up that could last the whole race. The Dunlop tires were working great and I knew I had no problem getting them to last the entire 15 lap race. It was really hot at Barber Motorsports Park. I knew that would be a big factor in the race, but I was confident in my training program and my bike setup. I was really just ready to get Race 1 underway.

Race 1: I got a good start and was running in fourth position. I eventually worked my way around Cory Alexander and then I started pushing really hard trying to catch Dustin Dominguez. I eventually just kept telling myself you can do this, keep going and I caught right up to him with a couple laps to go. I made the pass right away and just knew I had to stay in front of him until the last lap.

I knew if I could get to the left hander before the hill, I could hold him off the rest of the way, but he made a good pass on me going into that same turn. I planned ahead to make the pass in the last corner, I’d just have to line him up out of the corner and get a great drive out. Dustin new this would be my plan and he did a great job making sure he also got a great drive out. I would have to settle for 3rd. It was a fun race and I knew if I could just get out front with Hayden Gillim in tomorrow’s race I could stick right with him. I would take everything I learned from todays race and regroup for race 2.

It was awesome to get my first AMA Pro Road Racing podium. The podium activities were a blast. Thank you to the person that prepared all the Champaign bottles to be sprayed. I was nervous about that, for I had never done it before. It was a great feeling to be up front, and I knew I could do it again tomorrow. My Uncle Alan promised a good dinner if I got on the podium, so we did! I got some fresh Tilapia and got prepared to do battle tomorrow!

Got up Sunday morning after a good nights rest. I stretched out and prepared myself for morning warm-up. We had a really good warm-up and everything was working great. I new that the
De Keyrel Racing Team ( My Dad, Mom, Brother, Grandpa D and Uncle Alan) had the bike ready to go and that the set up that Penske Suspension ( Mike, Scotty and Eric ) had given me was going to be great.

My Moto D under suit was keeping me as cool as it could all weekend. I was extremely hot after Race 1. My legs felt like Jell-O when I got off the bike. I made sure I drank a lot of water before Race 2. Hydration was very important all weekend for riders and crews. I just made sure everything was ready to go. I did my stretching, got my headphones going, everything was feeling good.

I knew I could run with the front runners, so I just went out for Race 2 got a great start.

I was right with Hayden Gillam and Dustin Dominguez was right up front with him.

I moved up into second for a little bit and was running right behind Hayden Gillim. I got moved back to third by Dustin. Dustin then passed Hayden for the lead. My plan was, as long as the leader was not getting away, to just hang out in third. Save tires and watch what they were doing, then make a charge for the win in the later laps.

I was just waiting there and waiting to make a move. On the last couple laps, we started getting into way more lappers than race 1. I had not factored that much traffic in on the closing laps, so my plan really didn’t work out. We all got shuffled apart. I got caught out a couple times and had to close back in on Hayden and Dustin. I gave it everything I had and was still happy to be on the podium again for 3rd. It was an awesome weekend with a lot of fans on the fence lines and in the trees!

Kaleb De Keyrel AMA #51

Thank You to our sponsors for making this season possible: 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, TR

Here are some more pictures from this weekend. Thank You to Brain J Nelson for the photos:

AMA Pro Road Racing riders meeting

Bible Study Friday Night

Pit Area

My mom and Uncle Alan on the grid with me

Saturday night Thank You photo to our sponsors on FB

Baptism at Church service Sunday Morning

Fan walk Sunday

Thank You for all your hard work this weekend De Keyrel Racing

See you at Laguna

De Keyrel Racing is loading up and heading south. This weekend is the Triumph Double header at Barber Motorsports park for AMA Pro Road Racing. Stop on out and say HI. Get your signed copy of Kaleb De Keyrel AMA Supersport rider #51 newest poster with a World Cup theme.

If you are not able to attend this weekend make sure to watch all the racing action live at www.FansChoice.TV Coverage will start at 8:00 am Saturday morning.

Here is a link to the weekend schedule: http://amaproracing.cdn.racersites.com/assets/2014-Schedule-Barber%205_19_14.pdf

Looking forward to an awesome weekend. See You there

Kaleb De Keyrel AMA #51

Thank You to our sponsors for making this season possible: 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, TR

If you missed the coverage of the Supersport races or any other races from Road America AMA Pro Road Races. You can watch them any time at www.fanschoice.tv

Here is a link to the Supersport races:

SuperSport Race 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dP9pYICZDI ( Lots of great exposure for Kaleb and his sponsors )

SuperSport Race 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D1AWeZGoNU ( Kaleb goes from 12th to 3rd and gets nipped at the line by .002 for 3rd )

Looking forward to Barber in two weeks.

Kaleb De Keyrel #51

Thank You to all our sponsors for making the 2014 season possible: 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, TR

The weekend started off great with only a 5-1/2 hour drive over to Road America! We got there and set up. We pulled the zuma out and everything else on top of it. Once we were ready to go. I went for a road bicycle ride with Roger Hayden, Tucker Lancaster, and Jake Lewis. It was a fun good ride through the hills of Elkhart Lake. I was feeling good and confident for the weekend. After an awesome bike right we headed down for the riders meeting.

Friday came up fast. I went out for practice 1 and just started off easy. I worked my pace higher and higher ending up 5th place for first practice. I was really happy with how practice went and how my Yamaha R6 was handling. I was ready to get qualifying under way. I had a good qualifying session and was running pretty much in no mans land the whole time. I was setting a good pace even without a draft and finished 5th for qualifying.

I was really excited for the race and I was feeling confident. Race 1 would be the first time I would brake out the custom painted Chicken Joe helmet that was made for the Wisconsin race by Tag at Tagger Designs.

Before we could get to race 1. I had another round of qualifying for the race. This session was going to be early morning and the weather was expected to warm up slow. We decided that we were’t going to put on a new tire for qualifying 2 to save money. With the cooler temperatures we did not expect anyone to go faster. The temperature came up much faster than expected and the track was fast. I qualified 10th in qualifying 2. There were only 2 people that went faster then me the day before so I would start 7th for the race.

I got an OK start off the line for Race 1 and was running about 6th. I put my head down to make some passes and was battling for 4th and 5th. The other rider and I had a great battle back and forth sliding it sideways right next to each other going into turn 5. The race went all the way to the stripe. I was up into 4th and just got nabbed at the line. I had my best AMA Pro Road Racing finish of my career so far with a hard fought 5th. I tried my best to get him but just couldn’t do it. I would have the next race to figure out what I need to do different and improve my finish. AMA picked the top 6 bikes to go to the dyno to check HP.

After race 1. I went back to the hotel to swim with my cousins. It was great having so much family at the race supporting me. I got a good nights rest for race 2 on Sunday. The next day we had a quick warm up in the morning then got ready for the race. Race 2 was probably one of the most interesting races I have ever been involved in…

Race 2 started off with my brake adjuster line braking on the warm up lap. My dad was tying it out of the way on the grid. I had me kind of flustered . I got a horrible start but thats ok because the race would be red flagged because of a crash on the first lap. We tried to install a new brake adjuster on the red flag but ran out of time so we just removed it and I would have to run without it. I gridded up again and I got an ok start. Three laps in it started to sprinkle. More in some areas than others. I back off so I didn’t crash like everyone else and sure enough they did exactly what I thought red flag again.

We were in the pit for about 5 minutes and the AMA deemed it a wet race and it would be a five lap sprint to the finish. My dad and I decided to put rains on knowing even if it dried up they would last five laps and I would have great grip. My crew of my Grandpa and my uncle did a great job getting the bike ready. AMA sent us back out but then we had to come back down pit lane counter track back to our pits. It was drying up more and more. We had the time so we put DOTs back on for the race. I took this time to calm myself down and focus. There had been a lot going on with all the crashes and tires being changed.

I just went out rode like I knew I could. I ended up getting a good start and was running about 7th. I made some moves and was up to 4th early but there was about a 3 second gap to 3rd. There was only one lap till the white flag. So put my head down and was charging hard. That lap I had the fattest lap of the race.I caught 3rd as we passed the white flag.

I passed him going up into turn 6. Then he passed me back in turn 8. I followed him around to the final straight. I drafted up the back of him got right next to him we were bumping elbows and trying to get in front of one another. Right as we got to the line another rider just went right around the outside of me. I really wanted to get on the podium but I finished 4th. It was a good weekend and Ill bring that momentum into barber!

Kaleb De Keyrel #51

Thank You to all our sponsors for making the 2014 season possible: 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, TR

Road America AMA Pro Road Racing weekend was a blast! Man, So close to the box. Here is a video my Uncle Alan De Keyrel made to try and capture some of the weekend. Enjoy.

Kaleb De Keyrel #51

Thank You to all our sponsors for making the 2014 season possible: 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, TR

I recently took out my first Championship winning bike and rode it at the place I first drug my knee.

It is a HONDA NSR 50R and I was at Dakota County Technical College (DCTC) with Road Closed Promotions on the little truck driving course. It brought back so many memories about how I got my start in road racing and why we switched from motocross to road racing. This video is dedicated to Fred Chapman, The Chapman family (Zac, Jake), Jerry Morgan, Hunter Morgan and all of the CMRA staff and members that made our first road race so enjoyable and welcoming. We had no idea what we were doing, how it all worked and they ended up talking us into a 5 hour endurance race. Everyone jumped in and helped, so we could race and it was an absolute blast. It was fun getting back to my start. Enjoy the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C_xd9jDSMo&feature=youtu.be

Kaleb De Keyrel #51

Thank You to all our sponsors for making the 2014 season possible: 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, TR

I love the ocean and I wanted to incorporate it into a helmet design but I also wanted to have a theme for the next race at Road America. So I thought about it for awhile. I remembered a movie I watched awhile back with my little brother called Surfs Up. The movie had a little awesome surfing chicken from Sheboygan, WI. Sheboygan is right by Road America and is where we will being staying for the AMA race. Make sure to get your tickets now and get your reservations to attend the race. May 30 – June 1 in Elkhart Lake WI at Road America. Stop by the pit or see the helmet during fan walk both Saturday and Sunday at noon to check out the incredible detail. See You there

So I had Tag incorporated all the features and here is the final product: Huge Thank You to Tag at www.TaggerDesigns.net. Tag always has me in the sickest HJC helmets on the track.

Looking forward to seeing you at Road America for the AMA Pro Road Racing Double Header

Kaleb De Keyrel #51

Thank You to all our sponsor for making the 2014 season possible: 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, TR

This video will give you an inside look at what I’ve been doing in the off season and on down time in-between races. Since I’ve graduated high school 2 years early I’ve been working at Bobs Cycle a local motorcycle shop that sells mainly riding accessories and apparel in our hometown of White Bear Lake. I hope you enjoy learning a little bit more about me! Looking forward to Road America!

Kaleb De Keyrel #51

The weekend started out with Friday practice, which was cold, windy and raining. I went out and just started easy, then began to work my way up to speed. Ultimately, it was just too wet and cold to get up to good lap times, so I had a little fun riding around with my brother. Friday practice was cold and wet, but Saturday would turn out to be a good day weather wise. We didn’t know if we were going to go up to BIR, so we got entered in the races late and had to start at the back of the grid for every race. I had a lot of passing to do just to get to the front. I had to fight for every position, but Saturday started off great.

Mr. Raymond Rizzo made the drive to do service with Jim Wiles and John Anderson

I went out for Middleweight SS and was running well. I just let the leader get away and had to make up too much time, so I ended up 2nd. The next race I didn’t let the leaders get away and finished in 1st place. I went out for the next unlimited race against the 1000’s on my 600 and finished 3rd. I got a great start, but lost the draft from the two leaders, so I ended up 3rd. The last race Saturday would be an 18 lap trophy dash.

The race started out dry and I was leading by a decent gap over second. It started to sprinkle off and on just enough so that you had no idea where it was wet or not, and as soon as that started to happen I started seeing more and more bikes on the side of the track. By about the 6 lap mark, the track was completely soaked and we were all tip toeing around, because you would get on the gas just a little bit and the back end would slide around. Mason and a lot others pulled off, because it was so bad.

I don’t mind sliding in control, but there were times I would go into corners and just barley touch the front brakes and the front end would slide. As we were going around for 6 laps and seeing all those down bikes, I’m thinking are we actually going to do all 18 laps? The answer was yes! I pretty much lead the whole thing until I came into turn 12 on the final lap and the front end slid every time I hit the brakes. I ran off for the second time in this race in the same corner. I got back on track in third place, and that is where I would catch back up to the 2 guys up front, but still finished 3rd.

After the rain race on DOT’s and BIR super smooth surface, I came into Sunday pretty much thinking anything could be better. Just let it be dry or wet, either one. Sunday actually turned out to be a great dry day. I was lined up in the back row on the outside on Saturday and Sunday I would start on the back row to the inside. This made starts a lot more difficult. I got a bad start right away in race one and was running fifth, when I started to notice the chain slapping the swing arm every so often. I was trying to figure out what it was, but I couldn’t figure it out, so I just kept riding and ended up 5th in the first race. I broke a sprocket tooth off and thats what was making the noise. We got that fixed and went out and finished 4th and 3rd in HWSB and UNLSB. I was getting held up on the starts and having to work my butt off to try and catch the leaders, but I got it figured out for the GP races and ended up getting 2nd in MWGP and HWGP. I got a good start in both races and made it to the front quicker than I had all weekend. I was running really good times, my fastest was a 1:38.4, but starting in the back was killing me, because the races were only 6 laps. I ended the weekend finishing 3rd against the 1000cc bikes. Overall, it was a good weekend and I learned a lot and will bring that momentum into Road America!

I also have to say I am super proud of my brother Mason. It was his first time back on a bike since his big get off in turn two last year. He road smart and pushed hard every race and listened to his limits. Awesome Job Mason.

Thank You to all my sponsor for your support in 2014

Kaleb De Keyrel #51

HWSS 1st
MWSS 2nd
MWGP 2nd
HWGP 2nd
UNLSS 3rd
GP3 3rd
UNLSB 3rd
HWSB 4th
MWSB 5th

Tyler McCool was at Daytona and made a great video on Kaleb De Keyrel. Here is a link to his awesome work: Thank You to CJ Czaia at 1-855-CzaiaLaw.com and Tyler

The video does a great job representing De Keyrel Racing and it even has all our sponsors roll through at the end.

Kaleb De Keyrel AMA #51

Thank You to our 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, EarthX Batteries, Moto-D, Zero Gravity, Impact Armor, Galfer, Sidi, Pit Bull, Sharkskinz, TSE, TR