MILLVILLE, N.J. (Sept. 12, 2014) – Every race weekend, the stars of AMA Pro Road Racing do battle on the track, but Friday morning at New Jersey Motorsports Park, some of them got to let out their competitive side in a completely different way.
Riders representing all four of the series’ classes, and hailing from three continents around the world, suited up and played paintball at NJMP’s recently opened Battlegrounds Paintball facility.
Ben Carlson, Kyle Wyman, Jake Lewis, Tomas Puerta, David Anthony and Hayden Gillim scrambled around two of the facility’s three wooded fields, which are littered with walls, tires, cars and other obstacles, participating in a handful of different games, and swapping paint in a much different way than they’re accustomed to.
“We’re all competitive, and we team up, we treat it seriously, we want to win,” said Anthony, an Australian and a top five rider in the premier SuperBike class. “It’s good to have a racetrack with something else to do. It’s something for the family to go and do if you’re not into the racing and all that. Definitely a good facility. And we won, so that makes it a little bit better.”
Being able to let loose before an action-packed weekend in which all four series champions will be crowned was an opportunity too good for Gillim to pass up. Gillim leads Dustin Dominguez by just two points in the AMA Pro SuperSport class.
“I love being able to shoot stuff without being able to hurt somebody,” Gillim said. “I haven’t played anything like that in a while. It’s cool to kind of get out of your comfort zone and do something where you’re getting stuff shot at you. I had a blast doing it.”
Racing is the big reason why the riders are at New Jersey Motorsports Park, but the South Jersey circuit has made significant improvements over the years to become more of an all-encompassing entertainment facility. The paintball grounds are just one example of the improvements NJMP has made.
“It was a lot of fun,” Puerta said. “I just took it a little easier because we have a race weekend going on. But I think that was a great time. We’re just ready to go racing now.”
Puerta, a former class champion who hails from Colombia, is the top rookie in GoPro Daytona SportBike. He left impressed with the Battlegrounds Paintball layout.
“It’s really cool, it’s pretty wild with a lot of wood and trees,” Puerta said. “They make us run a little bit to get the flag and to shoot more people, but it was real fun.”
Wyman, who pulls double duty in both the Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series and GoPro Daytona SportBike class, came to play with camouflage pants and some paintball experience under his belt.
“I had fun,” Wyman said. “Paintball is always a good time. You never really get an opportunity to shoot your fellow competitors, so this was the first time for that. It’s a pretty cool place because they have so many different courses and setups. I usually have played indoor paintball, but outdoor paintball is a lot more fun. These guys have done it right, it’s pretty cool.”
Carlson, who is second in the Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series standings coming into this final weekend, was a paintball rookie.
“I had never really done it, so it was a good time,” Carlson said. “We didn’t get hurt, so that’s all right too. Everything about the place is world class, so a little paintball in the morning is good as well.”
For more information on New Jersey Motorsports Park’s Battlegrounds Paintball, visit http://www.njmp.com/battlefield-paintball-park/.
The riders will be back in a setting more familiar – the track – Saturday and Sunday for a doubleheader at NJMP’s Thunderbolt Raceway. Practice and qualifying at the track begin at 8 a.m. local time (5 a.m. PT) Saturday and 8:40 a.m. (5:40 a.m. PT) Sunday. Races begin 2:10 p.m. (11:10 a.m. PT) Saturday and 12:15 p.m (9:15 a.m. PT).
How to Watch:
FansChoice.tv will be the official home for live streaming coverage of AMA Pro Flat Track and AMA Pro Road Racing events in 2014. The site will also provide coverage of IMSA’s development and single-make series, and NASCAR’s touring and weekly series.
About AMA Pro Road Racing:
AMA Pro Road Racing is the premier motorcycle road racing series in North America and is universally regarded as one of the most competitive road racing organizations in the world. The series is comprised of four production-based classes: AMA Pro SuperBike, AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike, AMA Pro SuperSport and the AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series. Learn more about AMA Pro Road Racing at www.amaproracing.com/rr/.