Selected Riders from AMA Pro Flat Track Set to Return to ESPN's Summer XGames in Austin, TX June 2-5

In just over two months time, selected riders from AMA Pro Flat Track will again hold stage alongside the stars of extreme sports when they visit the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX for their second outing in the ESPN XGames competition.

This will be the second year alongside the popular competition where the stars of The Rolling Thunder Show put on a great show last year in their inaugural showing that saw Jared Mees lead the majority of the main event only to suffer a mechanical breakdown with less then a half lap to go and Bryan Smith go on to earn the first-ever gold medal in the XGames flat track competition in front of a packed house and with just over 500K people watching live in prime time on ESPN's cable network.

This year the track will have more development before the competition starts up as former 7-Time AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr has done a total redesign of the facility that will see it's initial testing come next weekend on Saturday, April 9 with the Harley-Davidson Lone Star Half-Mile in round 3 of the season.

In the shot above, the riders in heat #1 roar towards turn one during racing action at the Springfield Mile II at round 12 of the 2015 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship Harley-Davidson GNC1 presented by Vance & Hines series on September 6.

(L-R) Stevie Bonsey on the #80 Cliff Racing/Dodge Brothers/Classic Harley-Davidson-sponsored XR750, Jarod Vanderkooi on the #17F Don's Kawasaki/DPC Racing/Floyd Tapp-backed Kawasaki EX650, Doug Lawrence on the #73 Glidden Racing/Dreyer Motorsports/Tucker Rocky-sponsored Kawasaki 740, Jake Johnson on the #5 Harley-Davidson Motor Co/Screamin' Eagle Performance Parts/Arai Helmets-backed factory H-D XR750 and Nichole Mees on the #15 H-D of Wausau/Willie McCoy/Black Hills Harley-Davidson-sponsored XR750 battle to see who will take the point before throwing it into turn one at the Illinois State Fairgrounds mile oval.

Check out the preview below from AMA Pro Flat Track and be ready to see the stars of the Grand National Championship head back to Austin next week for the season's third event of the year and it's first Twins Series race of the season and then be ready for their return to the ESPN XGames competition in early June in front of a live television audience and what will surely be another packed house at the COTA facility.

Harley-Davidson Flat-Track Racing Returns to Summer X Games Austin for Second Year

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Mar. 25, 2016) - AMA Pro Flat Track stars return to the stage for another year at ESPN's Summer X Games in Austin, Texas for the Harley-Davidson Flat-Track Racing event at Circuit of The Americas on June 2 - 5. The X Games will be broadcast live on both ESPN and ABC. "The X Games is an outstanding festival for the world's leading young extreme athletes and we are proud to once again have the AMA Pro Flat Trackers showcase our uniquely American sport," said Michael Lock, CEO of AMA Pro Racing. "The action will be fast and furious and the redesigned track will deliver thrilling racing from start to finish." During last year's Summer X Games, Kawasaki rider No. 42 Bryan Smith secured the inaugural flat track gold medal over top rival and reigning Harley-Davidson GNC1 presented by Vance & Hines champion No. 1 Jared Mees. "It was great to win the gold last year," Smith said. "It was pretty special. I was the first one and pretty lucky to win it. To be back there again will be cool and I'll hopefully defend my gold medal and be the only guy with two flat track golds. "I'm excited to be able to showcase what we have in flat track and how special it is and I hear the track will be better this year," Smith continued. "In order to prepare, my team and I treat it just like any other AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National, which is what our whole careers and lives are based around." After leading the majority of the 20-lap race, Mees suffered a mechanical issue on the final lap which forced him to leave the track and miss the win, allowing Smith to take home the victory. Mees has something to prove when he returns to the X Games in June, and is guaranteed to be a frontrunner in Austin. "X Games for me was a little bitter," Mees said. "Leading from start to almost finish and coming up a half of a lap short with a pretty comfortable lead was a bitter part of the season for me. It would've been cool to collect the very first ever gold medal, but unfortunately the gold medal is sitting on somebody else's shelf. I'm looking forward to going back because I'm motivated to go to every race and win. All in all I'm excited to be returning." Sammy Halbert, rider of the No. 7 Harley-Davidson, finished second at the X Games while Factory Harley-Davidson rider No. 6 Brad Baker closed out the podium with his third-place result. "Summer X Games was such an amazing experience," Baker said. "It felt so awesome to be able to compete for an X Games medal just like the famous athletes I have grown up watching on TV. I'm really looking forward to this year's event. I came up two places short of gold last year, so I'm really going to be pushing for gold this time. X Games is just an awesome experience whether you are an athlete or a spectator, so I'm pumped for many reasons." The purpose-built dirt track has been redesigned by seven-time Grand National Champion Chris Carr with the goal of providing additional racing lines. "The purpose of the redesign was to create more drama on the race track," Carr said. "The new track should provide more passing opportunities and will set the stage for a great show." Two months prior to the Summer X Games, a full field of the world's best dirt track motorcycle racers will take on the newly re-engineered track at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, April 9 during the Harley-Davidson Lone Star Half-Mile. Tickets for the April 9 event are now available and can be purchased at www.texasflattrack.com/tickets/. For group sales, contact the Circuit of The Americas Box Office at 1-512-301-6600. For more information about the 2016 Summer X Games, please visit ESPN's website at http://xgames.espn.go.com/xgames/. How to Watch:   FansChoice.tv is the official home for live streaming coverage of AMA Pro Flat Track events. The site also provides coverage of IMSA's development and single-make series, and NASCAR's touring and weekly series. Catch all the action at http://www.FansChoice.tv. About AMA Pro Flat Track: AMA Pro Flat Track is the world's premier dirt track motorcycle racing series and one of the longest-running championships in the history of motorsports. Sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing in Daytona Beach, Fla., the series is highly regarded as the most competitive form of dirt track motorcycle racing on the globe. For more information on AMA Pro Flat Track, please visit www.amaproracing.com/ft/, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or live stream the on-track action on FansChoice.tv. About AMA Pro Racing: AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.

For additional information contact: AMA Pro Racing Communications, (386) 492-1014, communications@amaproracing.com