Digging Up Dirt : Motocross Racers Back on Track With New Course at Piru

On almost any day you can hear the full-throttled drone of motorcycles roaring over a dirt track cut into the hills east of Piru.

The motocross course is the first legal track in Ventura County in more than a decade, and dirt bike riders have been flocking to the place since it opened at the beginning of October.

One morning recently, 37-year-old Mark Sirota launched his motorcycle off one of the many jumps, wowing a few onlooking cycling aficionados with his grace.

“That guy is good,” said 33-year-old Tim Mack, a Ventura carpenter who came to the track with three buddies.

While he watched Sirota finesse the bike into a 15-foot jump, bring the motorcycle down and then push it into another leap, Mack shook his head and said he prefers to keep his wheels on the ground.

“I’m a firm believer in gravity,” he said.

Started by dirt bike enthusiast Craig Lynch, the Lemon Grove Motocross Park is the first legal motocross course in the county since a track in Moorpark closed about 15 years ago.

In the 1980s the county passed an ordinance prohibiting motorcycle race tracks. The ordinance, liability problems and land use issues have kept anyone else from opening a new course since then, Lynch said.

Lynch said he pays a hefty premium for insurance. He said he has tried to emphasize safety at the track, forbidding alcohol and keeping two paramedics on duty at all times. With a sport like motocross, the medical crew can come in handy.

“It can be pretty dangerous,” Lynch said.

One morning last month, 21-year-old Pete Hurtado landed hard on his handlebars after a jump and broke his hand.

“I was getting too cocky,” Hurtado said as medical attendants braced and iced his swollen hand.

Despite the pain, Hurtado said he plans to keep riding and keep coming to the course. Without it, he said, riders have had to take their bikes illegally into the dry Santa Clara riverbed or trespass onto ranch land if they want to ride in Ventura County.

Lynch said that was one of his main motivations for building the course.

He spent two years getting permits, and in July, with the support of the Piru Neighborhood Council, Lynch got the County Board of Supervisors to amend the ordinance forbidding motocross courses to specifically make an exception for him.

“I think the sport of motocross has matured a lot since the county passed that ordinance, and the Board of Supervisors recognized that,” Lynch said. “It’s more family oriented. I think riders are more aware of the damage they can cause.”

Over the last decade the bikes, which can permanently harm sensitive terrain, have been kept out of many parks where they were permitted in the past.

“Things like riders going on hiking trails have given riders a bad name,” Lynch said. “Having this course takes a lot of pressure off those sensitive areas because it gives people an affordable legal place to ride.”

The 32-year-old Lynch, who last month quit as a utility company foreman, had spent his off hours getting community support and then laying out plans for the track.

On about 40 acres of ranch land that belongs to Lynch’s parents, he spent more than $300,000 of his own money planning and building the course.

Seeing the opportunity for more jobs and an influx of users, the small community of Piru welcomed Lynch’s plan.

“Craig did his homework,” said Ventura County Planner Paul Merrett, who reviewed the plans. “He went to the community first and was able to get their support before ever coming to the county.”

So far the track has been a success, Lynch said. On the opening Sunday, more than 300 people paid $15 each for a chance to ride. The track holds races every weekend featuring riders ranging in age from 6 to 60, he said.

Word of the track, classified as an intermediate course, has spread among the tightknit motocross community, Lynch said, meaning he hasn’t had to spend any money so far on advertising.

“I want to wait until we iron out all the kinks before I start advertising,” he said.