Riders Need a Home on the Range : Motocross: Development has slowly swallowed up much of the land that was once available for off-road riders.

After the sun had gone down, and shadows had engulfed rider and bike, Vince Warren found himself wishing he had listened to that little voice earlier.

It was four years ago. Warren, 25, had left Sweet Home, Ore., for Southern California to be closer to the mecca of motocross racing. He settled for Encinitas.

On this February day, Warren had been practicing about an hour--he had discovered some undeveloped land near La Costa--when he spotted two police officers waiting by his truck in the distance.

“I probably should have stopped, gone over and gotten my medicine,” said Warren, who expected a ticket for trespassing. “But I figured it was getting dark, so I’d keep riding.”

By waiting, he ended up taking a much bigger dose.

When it was too dark to continue, Warren headed back to his truck, where the law was waiting.

As he explains it, the officers were riding their own off-road bikes, and one attempted to intercept him.

“Evidently, he fell off and broke his thumb,” Warren said. “It got heavy. They pulled out guns. They were threatening me, said I was going to jail. They said I was resisting arrest.”

Warren spent the next 45 minutes pleading for leniency.

“I begged,” he said. “Man, it was long and drawn out. It was pretty scary. I mean, they had guns and everything.”

Sweet Home never felt so far away. Warren had been in San Diego two months.

“Yeah, welcome to California,” he said. “They didn’t take me to jail, but they did give me a ticket for resisting arrest and trespassing. The whole thing came to $130. It was so crazy.”

For off-road enthusiasts throughout San Diego, Warren’s experience isn’t an isolated one. Development has slowly swallowed up much of the land that was once available for amateur and professional motocross racers. The land has not just become scarce--it is virtually non-existent.

“There used to be tons of places to ride,” said El Cajon’s Rick Johnson, a legend on the supercross circuit. “Now, with all the development, there’s no place.”

Tonight at Jack Murphy Stadium, in the San Diego stop of the American Motorcycle Assn. Camel Supercross series, Johnson, 25, will attempt to win his fifth consecutive San Diego race. Going into this third event of an 18-race series, Johnson is tied for 11th overall.

While Johnson is by far the most recognized name locally in motocross racing, he is hardly the only one. Nor is he the only one who sees a bleak future for youngsters beginning to cut motocross trails.

“They’re taking all the land away,” said Larry Brooks, also of El Cajon. Brooks, the AMA Rookie of the Year in 1986, races on a supercross track owned by a friend in Ramona.

“There’s no place to ride except on private land or where you sneak on illegally,” said Brooks.

Brooks said he has talked his way out of three tickets, but often, when the helicopters swoop down and the police get on the loudspeakers and tell him to “high tail it out of there,” he said, “I don’t give them a chance to stop, come down and chat. I’m gone.”

Unless riders are willing to drive to designated off-road vehicle parks such as Ocotillo Wells in the Anza-Borrego Desert, Lake Moreno near Campo or Plaster City near El Centro, they must continually dodge the law.

“The only legal place to go is out in the desert,” said Lynn Brown, feature writer and news editor of San Diego Off-Roader Magazine.

A stretch of land in the South Bay (Palm Avenue off Interstate 5), is a popular spot for riders but may soon become another casualty of development.

“They’re getting ready to build something there,” Johnson said. “Right now, you just have to find a trail until you get kicked off. San Diego needs a good place to ride.”

El Cajon’s Mike Craig, 19, will be going for his second victory in his third start in the 125cc race, a warm up to the 250cc event. On Jan. 27, he won at Anaheim.

For 10 years, Craig has been riding the trails near his home, but everything is slowly being developed.

“They’ve taken everything,” Craig said. “In a couple of years, there will be no place to go.”

Craig has been ticketed several times and is now more careful about when he practices.

“During the weekend, the cops are out the most,” he said. “It can be a hassle, trying to find a place to ride.”

Since 1980, Johnson has had the luxury of riding on private tracks in Jamul and Lake Moreno, on land donated by friends.

But for less successful riders, finding a remote area is frustrating.

“Rick and the big shots, they lease property together in order to have a riding area,” said Warren, who works construction to support his motocross habits.

Said Brown: “The big bucks guys are going to find a place to go, but what about all the kids? For them to get practice, they have to go in canyons, hills and empty lots, which technically makes them criminals.”

And parents aren’t likely to look favorably on their children making a hobby that is not only costly but illegal as well.

“Fathers aren’t going to let them go out knowing they’re going to get a ticket,” Brooks said. “It’s hurting the sport greatly.”

Of far greater concern is the possibility of a child riding alone and getting hurt on land they have entered illegally.

“They could lay around there for a long time,” Brown said. “It’s not a problem that will disappear. It’s too bad because it’s a great sport. It’s something cool without going the drug direction.”

Brown said the land problem is the biggest local issue off-roaders face, and he has been working since 1976 to try and provide parks for them.

Help may be on the way. According to Brown, a targeted area in Otay Mesa is waiting for the state to pass legislation that will provide funding for a park. Another source could be close to 9,000 acres of the La Jolla Indian Reservation in remote north San Diego County. That land is subject to studies, and the deal would have to be approved by the state and the Luiseno Indian tribe.

Area riders must work fast if any land is to be spared.

“Right now,” Brown said, “we still have the opportunity to provide the places, but in five years, it won’t be available.”

Only two motocross tracks remain open in San Diego: Carlsbad Raceway and Barona Oaks Raceway in Lakeside. For racing, Carlsbad is open infrequently, and Barona Oaks is open every first and third Sunday. For practice, Barona Oaks is open on Saturdays.

Exorbitant insurance costs have forced the tracks to close on weekdays.

“No one wants us to use their land, they’re afraid of getting sued,” Brooks said.

But until legal tracks are established, racers often feel the cost of a ticket is worth the risk.

“I know some guys who get (tickets) constantly,” Warren said. “An illegal parking ticket is about $20 and trespassing is $30, so for 50 bucks, it’s worth it. It’s just like an entry fee at a race.”

But Warren sees selfishness as another downside to a sport he said has kept him out of trouble.

“I have some places I like to go,” he said, “but it gets so you don’t want to tell your friends where you ride so it won’t get so crowded.”

Warren said he may be fighting a dying cause, but it’s one he’ll gladly continue to fight.

“I just know I love to ride.”