The 2018 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship has now logged three rounds in the books and heads into its first break of the season this weekend. After the first three rounds, privateer Dylan Merriam finds himself in a pretty cool position—tenth place overall in 450 Class points standings. Merriam knows that there is a long season still ahead, but he’s motivated, looking to stay healthy, and shooting to remain in the top ten as much as possible.
(Note: This interview was conducted via iMessage and has been lightly edited for clarity)
Racer X: Dylan, pretty solid outdoor season so far. Tell us a little bit about it.
Dylan Merriam: Yeah, this outdoor season has started off great. All three weekends have been a career-best for me and I’m very comfortable on the bike. I had a little bike issue in the second moto at Hangtown and a crash in moto two at Glen Helen, but was able to work out the kinks and land a ninth overall at Colorado. My starts have been super on point and I’m also sitting tenth in points, which is pretty cool.
Tenth overall in points—in the 450 Class—has to feel pretty awesome, huh?
Yeah, it’s feels awesome to be top ten in points. The gap to ninth is a bit much due to my DNF in moto two at Glen Helen, but there’s a lot of rounds left to shrink the gap.
Is that the goal? Stay in the top ten overall all year?
My goal is to stay healthy all 12 rounds and remain in the top ten as much as possible. Ending the year top ten in points would be awesome and definitely a goal in mind, but I want to take each weekend at a time.
Does it add any extra motivation or make training less stressful, since you're sitting in a top ten spot? Or just business as usual?
I’m already very motivated as-is, but it definitely helps to have little things like that in the back of your mind. I’m always wanting more, so I guess you could say it helps give me that extra push.
What's a typical day like for you? What's your Monday through Friday like?
A typical day for me would be to wake up, get warmed up before riding, head to the track, knock out my motos, sprints, and starts for the day, bike work when I get home, work out, eat dinner, stretch, and go to bed. Since we are in season, I usually ride either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Wednesday and occasionally Thursday. I work out Monday-Thursday, which consists of road biking, mountain biking, CrossFit, and swimming. Then we fly to the races Friday.
Any fun hobbies to relax or recharge the batteries?
When we aren’t racing, I enjoy just relaxing, maybe hitting the beach and playing some golf.
Okay, time to get serious. Does being a top ten professional motocross racer help with the ladies at all?
Oh boy. [Laughs] I would definitely have to say yes, it does. I’m not speaking for all women, but there are a lot of them that are more attracted to what we do and how we perform on that track than anything else.
Focus, bro. Focus on those on-track results!
My main focus is to remain focused [laughs].
There you go. Weren't you someone's supercross prom date or something a while back?
Oh man, I won’t live that one down [laughs]. Yeah, I was something like that. [Ed note: You can read about the SX prom date here.]
Alright, it's getting late. Give thanks to those who help you out, and we'll call it a night!
Sounds good. I’d like to thank TPJ, Fly Racing, Braap Shop Yamaha, Alpinestars, Pirelli, ODI, Pro Circuit, Von Zipper, Enzo Suspension, DSC Construction, Twisted Development, Lucas Oil, Dedicated Ride Co., HerbStrong, Acerbis, Magik Graphics, Bolt, Crossfit by Overload, and Guts Racing.
