Age 9, Augusta, Georgia Preston Kling has been road racing motorcycles for so long that he can’t remember much about what his first race was like – and he’s only nine years old. What he does remember is the most important thing about riding motorcycles for kids. “I did have fun,” says Kling. Kling was born into a family of motorcycle riders and racers. His father, Kerry, worked as a test engineer for Harley-Davidson and lived near Talladega Speedway. His dad raced motocross and did a little road racing. So it was almost inevitable that when Dad had a home with a lot of vacant land on it, a dirt track and an off-road course would show up on it. And Palmer Kling, Preston’s older brother, is not only interested in road racing motorcycles, but is doing well, racking up wins in WERA and USGPRU/CCS competition. So Preston Kling wasn’t too old before he threw a leg over his first motorcycle, a Honda CRF50. At five, he entered his first motorcycle road race on a 50cc KTM at the Palmetto Supertrack in South Carolina, racing in the kids’ class. Kling has moved up the ranks as he’s gotten older, and he’s won his share of races. In 2010, he won the Thumpstar Kids Spec Championship with SEMRA. Nowadays, he races a Honda NSR50, which he says is more work to ride but more rewarding. “I like it a lot better,” Kling says. “You have to shift gears, and it’s harder to handle, but it’s a lot faster.” Kling is learning that going faster means work. But right now, at the age of nine, there’s something just as important as work to him. That’s having fun, and that’s something he and his dad says he’s doing in abundance. “He likes playing in the pits as much as he likes going out and racing,” his father says. “The best part–having fun, and just riding,” Kling says.