DeKalb West School third grader Kye Carter knows how to have a “wheely” good time. The son of drift car racer Derek Carter and wife, Kelley, is an award-winning dirt bike racer who developed “an interest in anything with wheels at a young age.”

“As a family, we spend quite a bit of time at various race tracks for motorsports events—anything from car shows to drifting to drag racing,” mom Kelley Carter said. “So, we knew at some point Kye would be racing something; we just didn’t know it would be dirt bikes.”

The Carters bought Kye, a student in Mrs. Jessica Antoniak’s class, a Strider balance bike for his second birthday, and in no time he learned how to ride on two wheels.

“Once we saw him riding down hills with his feet on the bike and hitting some small jumps, we knew he was ready for the transition to a dirt bike.”

A year later the 3-year-old was the proud owner of a Honda CRF 50.

“It was nerve racking the first time he got on it. We had to chase him all over the yard. If he stopped, he would just fall over. The more he rode it, the better he got, and the less he needed our assistance. He has literally ridden that bike almost every day since he was 3.”

Then, in the winter of 2023, the competitive bug bit Kye to enter races.

“I asked them if I could do a race,” Kye remembers. “We’ll let you try one race. I did one race and then they let me keep doing some more. I got better and better and started winning money.”

“I believe his words were, “I wanna win some trophies!”

“That first race was fun,” Kye said. “It was just a learning experience.  I didn’t win because I didn’t practice. I like fast things and dirt bikes are fast.”

“We started running the Race TN series,” Kye’s mom said. “It was a learning experience for sure, for him and us. We had to practice, practice, practice, and replay different scenarios and make sure Kye knew what he did wrong or could do better for the next race.”

To be faster for a few of the class competitions, he needed a faster set of wheels. His parents bought him a new KTM 50SX.

“Now, Kye had to make the transition from a 4-stroke bike to a really fast 2 stroke with a pretty angry power band. He made the transition faster than we thought, and with the combination of practice and the new fast bike, we started winning races.”

Kye ended the season, leading the points in the 50mc Shaft class with his CRF 50, and leading the points in 50mc Intermediate and 50mc Open with his new KTM 50sx. He was also second in points in the 65mc class running his KTM 50sx.