Kelly's immediate progress with
the Kalex came from understand-
ing the crucial role the rear brake
plays in grand prix racing. Com-
pared to production-based super-
bike and supersport machines,
the Kalex relies heavily on the
rear brake in every phase of the
corner, and this was something
Kelly had to understand early to
get down to competitive lap times.
"We put a brake lever on the
top of the clutch, like a scooter
style [similar to what Jonathan
Rea uses in WorldSBK]. It was
really weird at first, but once I
started using it more and more,
it was like, 'Dude!' I used the rear
brake more in one day at Jerez
than I did all year on the Suzuki.
On certain tracks with the Suzuki,
I'd use it more, some tracks less,
but really, I didn't use it much. On
some tracks I didn't touch it at all.
It just wasn't necessary. But on
the Kalex, if you're not using it,
you're screwed. It's extremely im-
portant for corner entry. You use
it to stop the bike, pivot the bike,
everything. It's crazy. The Kalex is
super fun, and it's definitely a diffi-
cult bike, but it's just a motorbike,
right? There's still more kilometers
to keep on learning the thing, but
I'm looking forward to it."
Like Beaubier, Kelly will relo-
cate to the greater Barcelona area
at the foothill of the mountains for
the duration of the 2022 season,
but he won't have much time to
settle in as the team is scheduled
to run a private test at Portimao in
mid-February before participating
in the official Dorna/IRTA test on
February 19-21 against the Moto2
competition.
"I'm set up with everything
I need in terms of training [in
Spain]," Kelly says. Plus, I've got
all the tracks I need around there
as well. As of right now, I'll be go-
ing at the end of the month [Janu-
ary], and I'll be going by myself. I
have my girlfriend who is going to
try to go as much as possible but
flying back and forth to the races.
It's the same with my parents.
They really want to go over there,
but, as of right now, it's not pos-
sible. I hope that, maybe by the
end of the year they will be able
to not only be going to as many
races as possible, but maybe
even find a place to stay there by
the end of the year. It's going to
be good."
CN
FEATURE I AMERICAN RACING TEAM
P80
Kelly raised a few eyebrows with a fine ninth place in his debut for
the American Racing Team at the end-of-year Jerez test in 2021.
