Field of Dreams

New Jersey Motorsports Park is purchasing 100 acres from the city for the site of a motocross facility under a partnership agreement the park signed last month with a Princeton businessman and racer.

Clayton Keeler and Motorsports Park General Manager Brad Scott in interviews last week said the goal is to obtain municipal approval within a month and to open the “Field of Dreams” motocross facility this summer.

The park will meet with city officials this week, Scott said.

Scott said the two most frequent questions from park users is about plans for a motocross facility and a RallyCross facility. RallyCross, or RallyX, are timed car races held on dirt or grass.

“There is a huge demand for a facility like this,” Scott said.

“These dirt bike guys are riding in these places illegally. We’ll give them a place to ride legally, year-round and in a location that is safe and controlled.”

Scott said the motocross deal is the first of five initiatives the motorsports park has for 2012 to further its goal to become more of an entertainment destination. The second initiative, a paintball facility, was announced last week at the same time as the motocross facility.

Scott said the paintball facility would take up 10 to 15 acres and also targets summer 2012 to open. Federal Aviation Administration permission is required before it can open.

It will be built behind the park’s karting facility and its clubhouse. The park will partner with the owner of a Shamong paintball business, but the park will own the land.

“We feel, between karting, motocross and paintball, this is beginning to develop into a total entertainment facility,” Scott said.

The motocross partnership agreement calls for Keeler to take ownership of the land and manage the facility.

The city Planning Board must first sign off on the proposal.

Keeler said two development phases are contemplated.

&#; The first phase calls for three motocross tracks to be built on about 35 acres.

One track will conform to American Motorcyle Association “national” motorcross track standards, which include a track at least 1.5 miles long and 30 feet wide and a 42-man starting gate.

A second track will be for “peewee” races and practice, essentially for bikes with 85cc engines or smaller.

A third track will be a regular motorcross venue open to both two-wheel and four-wheel vehicles.

In addition, a 10-mile network of rough riding trails would be cut through woods on about 65 acres surrounding the first section.

Those trails will range from 3.5 feet wide to 8 feet wide.

&#; The second phase calls for buying more land from the city and creating a facility for nonmotorized trail riding. Its timetable depends on progress made in with phase one.

The motocross facility will have its own parking area and an area for overnight camping as part of phase one, Keeler said.

City Commissioner Dale Finch said the news is positive because the city will receive $4,000 per acre.

The price is set in an existing agreement between the motorsports park and the city. The same agreement calls for the park to buy a minimum of 100 acres at the time it moves to build a motocross facility. It has an option on up to 200 acres.

“And it would be a good opportunity for the park to increase its draws and revenue,” Finch said.

The motocross project was at this approximate stage in late 2010. At that time, public concerns over noise from the park led the city commission to back away from the concept.

Since then, the motorsports park has reached a court-backed agreement with the residents group Track Racket. The agreement created a joint committee to negotiate noise levels and controls at the park.

Under the agreement the park and Keeler struck, the committee would not hold the same leverage over motocross activities. The sound committee’s role is limited to land that the park owns.

Keeler said motocross vehicles use mufflers, unlike race cars that use the park. Tests from 2010 indicated there would be little impact from the sport, he said.

“I have run private facilities in the past,” said Keeler, a mechanical engineer. “I’ve been riding all my life. I still maintain my professional license.”

Written by
JOSEPH P. SMITH
New Jersey Press Media