CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Aug. 21, 2015) – Defending AMA Pro Grand National Champion Jared Mees is hoping to continue his strong surge to what he ultimately hopes will be another title, as the series thunders into Charlotte Motor Speedway’s The Dirt Track at Charlotte for the Don Tilley Memorial Charlotte Half-Mile on Saturday, August 29.

Mees, 29, from Clio, Michigan, sports the No.1 on his Rogers Racing Harley-Davidson after winning his third AMA Pro Grand National Championship last year. The always steady Mees brings a four-race podium finish (top three) streak coming into Charlotte that includes a victory at the Black Hills Speedway in Rapid City, South Dakota, earlier this month. The run of solid finishes has pushed Mees’ series lead to 29 points over fellow Michigan rider Bryan Smith. Sammy Halbert, of Graham, Washington, is also very much in the championship hunt as well in third, just three points behind Smith.

The Don Tilley Memorial could prove to be instrumental in this year’s title chase. Mees is aiming for another solid finish and hopes to expand on his lead, while those chasing him like Smith and Halbert are going to go all out on the red clay Half-Mile dirt oval to close the gap on the series leader.

“Things are heading in the right direction,” Mees said. “Even though I’ve got a pretty good lead in the championship you’re never satisfied. This is racing and we all know anything can happen. I’m looking forward to racing at Charlotte.”

All but a handful of veteran riders will be seeing The Dirt Track at Charlotte for the first time. This year’s Don Tilley Memorial Charlotte Half-Mile marks the return of national motorcycle racing to the facility, part of the Charlotte Motor Speedway complex in Concord, NC. The AMA Pro Flat Track Series last visited the facility in 2002. Among the current crop of riders who raced Charlotte before include former champs Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. and Jake Johnson. Both of those riders have fond memories of the track and are happy to return.

“I’m really looking forward to coming back to Charlotte,” Coolbeth said. “I remember it as one of the best Half-Mile tracks we ever visited. The thing that’s really nice about it is that it’s a racy track, there were a lot of different lines and a lot of good passing opportunities.”

Coolbeth twice finished runner-up at Charlotte and he hopes that in the return he can finally score the victory that he was so close to earning.

Johnson scored a podium finish (third) in the last race here in 2002. He was in semi-retirement this summer before being called up by the Harley-Davidson factory team to fill in for the injured Brad Baker. He’ll also be considered one of the pre-race favorites for next week’s national in Charlotte.

“I had some success there in my rookie season,” said Johnson, a two-time AMA Grand National Champion from Coatesville, Pennsylvania. “That kind of track is right up my alley. I’ve got a great team behind me and I’m really looking forward to it.”

In addition to the elite riders of the AMA Pro Grand National Championship, Charlotte fans will also get to watch the top up-and-coming flat track racers in the country competing in the GNC2 support class. There will also be a chance to meet and get autographs from three of the most famous riders who ever raced for Don Tilley. Jay Springsteen, Gene Church and Tripp Nobles will all be on hand to honor their former racing boss Don Tilley, the well-known tuner and Harley-Davidson dealer from Statesville, North Carolina, who died in an accident last year.

The AMA Pro Grand National Championship series is one of the longest running motorcycle racing championships in the world. Known by its fans as flat track racing, many consider this form of motorcycle racing the most exciting on the planet. Flat track racing has produced many of America’s Motorcycle Grand Prix Champions such as Kenny Roberts, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Kenny Roberts, Jr. and Nicky Hayden.

Practice for the Don Tilley Memorial Charlotte Half-Mile begins at on Saturday, Aug. 29 at 2:00 p.m. and opening ceremonies for the evening program kick off at 6:00 p.m.

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*** 2015 Ticket Information: Ticket information is available for the Aug. 29, 2015 Don Tilley Memorial Charlotte Half-Mile at www.charlottehalfmile.com

Fans can order tickets online at http://www.charlottehalfmile.com/tickets/, by calling the Toll Free Ticket Hotline 1-800-745-3000.

Tickets for groups of 20 or more also are available. Contact the Don Tilley Memorial Charlotte Half-Mile Group Sales Department at info@charlottehalfmile.com or call 1-844-722-6453 for more information.