Kaleb De Keyrel’s attention during the 2013 season was focused on making it into AMA Pro. But to do so, to demonstrate that he belongs in the AMA Pro Road Racing ranks, he needed to, in his words, “Keep my hand on a throttle.” So De Keyrel, who lives in Great Bear Lake, Minnesota, decided to continue to race with the Central Racing Association (CRA) at Brainerd International Raceway, mostly for the seat time. In doing so, he took the club’s overall title. “My main goal for the year was to do a couple of AMA Pro rounds, get used to the AMA paddock and everyone there,” says De Keyrel, 16. “Basically, I’d race with CRA for a little more track time. I guess we never really thought about winning the Championship, but we knew it was there.” De Keyrel started motocrossing when he was four years old, and did that until he was 10, he says. At that point, the family decided that they wanted to go road racing. But this posed a problem for the Minnesota-based clan, as there were no nearby road racing organizations that would let a 10-year-old onto the track, De Keyrel says. So the family piled into the rig and headed due south—just about as far as they could go and still be in the U.S. The family started racing with CMRA and made trips to Texas and Oklahoma multiple times in 2009, with Kaleb De Keyrel taking the Mini Sprints Formula 6 and Formula 7 titles with CMRA (and brother Mason finishing second and third, respectively). The following season, De Keyrel took on the USGPRU series, racing a Honda RS125 GP machine and a Moriwaki MD250H. Traveling from Minnesota, a state on the nation’s northern border, to Florida on the south, and parts hither and yon between, De Keyrel put his Moriwaki on the box at JenningsGP, finishing second in the MD250H event. To add to the travel, De Keyrel also participated in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup tryouts in Spain. Finally, for 2011, De Keyrel was old enough to race with CRA. He finished third in the overall club Championship that season, winning titles in the Ultra Light GP, Ultra Light Superbike and Sportsman Ultra Light classes. He followed it up with a second-place overall finish in 2012, adding more CRA class titles and race wins in ASRA competition as well. But always, the focus was on getting to the next level. The racing at CRA was all about preparing De Keyrel for starting his AMA Pro Road Racing career. He turned 16 and became eligible for his AMA Pro license on June 4th, then made his AMA Pro debut at Barber Motorsports Park June 21st-23rd. De Keyrel put his 2008 De Keyrel Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 on the grid in the Motorcycle Superstore.com SuperSport races, earning 18th and 10th-place finishes in the two races. The next round out, at Mid-Ohio Sport Car Course, De Keyrel took a pair of ninths. The next round at New Jersey Motorsports Park was a little tougher. De Keyrel switched to a Honda CBR600RR, backed by 1-855-CzaiaLaw.com and prepped by Team Hammer. He rode the bike in a CCS/ASRA event at New Jersey on the weekend between the Mid-Ohio and New Jersey AMA Pro rounds, and stayed around for the AMA Pro event. De Keyrel crashed in final qualifying going for a faster lap on Saturday morning of the AMA Pro weekend; the bike required a lot of repairs, and he had a difficult first race. An electrical connection had gotten knocked loose during repairs to replace the throttle cables—and in the race the bike started missing. Mechanics finally solved that problem during a red flag. On Sunday De Keyrel started 14th and finished 12th in the SuperSport East series-ender. Riding the two machines back-to-back over consecutive weekends gave De Keyrel an insight into their strengths and weaknesses. “The Honda cornered really good. It just does everything well,” De Keyrel says. “The Honda’s power is more linear. The R6—when you get on the throttle, you know you’re on the throttle.” Meanwhile, De Keyrel was lining up whenever he could at the CRA rounds at Brainerd, racing the Middleweight, Superbike and Unlimited classes on his YZF-R6 and showing how fast he was. At the August meet, he won nine races, putting the YZF-R6 on and atop the podium against much more experienced riders on literbikes. At the end of the season, De Keyrel had nailed down the overall CRA Championship—something that took him by surprise, as he had missed two rounds due to funding issues and conflicts with the AMA Pro Road Racing schedule. And De Keyrel says that the competition up north is strong, with fast riders and very quick machinery. “There’re a lot of fast guys up there,” De Keyrel says. “When I raced in the 1000 classes… I can stay with them through the back section of the track, then when you hit the straight, you hang onto the draft as long as you can, then you catch them going into Turn Three.” De Keyrel’s goal is to make it back to the AMA Pro series next season. “There’s a lot more money put into it. It’s a little bit more organized. It feels more official,” De Keyrel says. “I don’t know if I’m going to be racing SuperSport or Daytona SportBike next year. My main goal is to get onto a team. If I’m racing SuperSport, I’d like to run at the front of the class, getting podiums. If I’m racing Daytona SportBike, I want to get on a team, be consistent and not make mistakes.” In the off-season, De Keyrel says, he’ll be training, riding dirt bikes and ice racing (and yes, he says, ice racing is exactly as insane as it looks) to keep sharp. “I have to train my butt off and work hard and watch videos to learn tracks and learn lines,” De Keyrel acknowledges.“And I’ll ride motocross and ice race to keep my hand on a throttle.”