seriously... the mercier is your intro beater track bike. why worry? if you are seriously worried about it affecting your peformance on the track, you should be more concerned with the frame and parts themselves, not the tires. we've got people on here who ride upwards of 1.5k just for work. the first new bike i ever bought for myself was 300. that was a major decision for me. now i drop 250 on bike parts without thinking twice. its all relative. once you make the jump, looking back at this thread will make you laugh.

not knocking your bike, its just that on the greater scale.... you aren't really risking too much!