'Road killer' leaves trail of dust

Shannon Mercure is running out of places to put the 33 trophies won by her son, Dylan, and his fast four-wheeler.

A large batch of Dylan's hardware sits above the fireplace inside the Mecure's Hamburg Township home. There's more up in his bedroom. Some are nearly as tall as Dylan, a 9-year-old fourth-grader at Country Elementary in Pinckney.

Dylan, a rookie to racing, took the Motocross Racing Association by storm last summer. He won more than 30 races, finishing second just twice in his age division. His highlights were victories at the 19th annual Best of the Midwest National tournament and the Stars of Tomorrow race, both in Delta, Ohio. He's gearing up for an indoor racing series in Waterford this winter.

"The more races I do, the better I get,'' Dylan said. "My four-wheeler was meant for racing.''

Dylan started the summer on a stock Yamaha Raptor before the family invested roughly $4,000 in August in a new Apex 90 with a 90cc engine. Shannon said her son's old bike was narrower and would tip on two wheels around tight corners and lose ground in the straight-aways.

"We ended up buying a full-fledge bike, and he was unstoppable,'' she recalled. "It was a stock bike, but it was more set up for racing. Even on the stock bike, he was beating them (the riders with modified engines).''

Dylan, who has been riding a four-wheeler in the backyard since he was 6, said he calls his four-wheeler "the road killer.'' He competed nearly every weekend in either Sebewaing, Onsted or in Ohio with the number 007, a tribute to James Bond. "Nothing can get past me,'' he said.

Despite his success, Dylan loves telling stories of the few crashes he endured. "I did three flips in a row in Onsted,'' he said, almost proudly. "I got hurt a little. I would have gotten back up by my mom said to stay down.''

Dylan and his father, Tom, have been busy modifying the engine. "The new bike went from 32 miles per hour to 53 by getting it modified,'' his mother said. "It can fly.''

Dylan already has several sponsors, Scott USA and Lakes Motosports, to help with the costs of an expensive sport. Last week, another potential sponsor sent him some mail, prompting an "Oh yeah!'' from Dylan. He's eligible to race four-wheelers two more years (until age 11) before he graduates to motocross.

He said he didn't mind quitting football to pursue racing. "The more competition I get, the more fun it is,'' he said.

Jason Deegan can be reached at jdeegan@livingstoncommunitynews.com or at 810-844-2012.