Youths Seek to Develop Own Bicycle Motocross Raceway in Camarillo

Joining the statewide craze, a group of youths is trying to organize the development of a bicycle motocross raceway in Camarillo.

They have submitted more than 600 signatures to the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District and may have found someone to donate the land.

The group plans to formally approach park district officials about the idea at the district’s meeting at 7 tonight.

“It would be relatively inexpensive to build in comparison to other parks because you don’t need grass, irrigation, picnic tables and everything else,” said John Williamson, park district general manager. “All you need is dirt mounds and water traps.”

Bicycle motocross, or BMX, is a non-motorized version of arena motorcycle racing. BMX incorporates many features of motorcycle races, including dirt tracks, jumps and banked turns. Racers compete in qualifying heats as they try to advance for a shot at a championship trophy.

With 36 tracks from Eureka to San Diego, the state leads the nation in BMX raceways, according to the American Bicycle Assn., the largest BMX-sanctioning body in the U.S., with more than 60,000 members.

BMX racing has become such a hot sport that the top riders, who compete in 24 national professional competitions, can earn more than $80,000 annually.

Although Ventura County already has two BMX raceways, transportation to the track in Simi Valley or another that opened two months ago in Ventura poses a problem for the Camarillo teenagers, said Bobby Jones, 14, who spearheaded the petition drive.

“A lot of our parents are at work, so we just ride around by Ottavio’s banquet hall, but cops run us out of there all the time because it’s private property,” he said. “We just don’t have transportation to the other places.”

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Frustrated at having no place close by to ride, Bobby and two other teens approached Ted Saville, owner of the Camarillo Bike Shop, about developing a BMX raceway in their town.

Saville suggested they gather signatures, while he asked about land donations.

“The sport’s popularity is along the lines of soccer or softball,” Saville said. “There’s a lot of kids in this town that would begin to race and a lot more that would do it more often if they could race locally.”

However, officials at the county’s two other American Bicycle Assn. tracks have mixed feelings about competition in Camarillo.

“It will take away business just like the one in Ventura did,” said Anthony Nigro, who has owned the Sycamore BMX Raceway in Simi Valley for 10 years.

“It’s not that I’m against it, it’s just that there’s too many tracks in such a small area,” Nigro said.

But owners of the Ventura BMX Raceway see things differently.

“Sycamore BMX just doesn’t want anybody else in the ABA bike field,” said Barbara Wyse. “ABA rules state there can be a track every five miles. They didn’t lose any business by us opening up . . . It’s all in their head.”

Wyse said she would welcome a track in Camarillo.

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“If they’re able to pull this off, they have our support because we think it’s wonderful,” Wyse said. “The Santa Barbara track was there for us on opening day. It’s important for tracks to help other tracks.”

Camarillo parents want a track in town so they don’t have to drive their kids across the county to race, Saville said.

“It’s just a shame--it’s like having a Little League team but no diamond in town to play on, so you have to go to Simi Valley or Ventura,” Saville said.

People have donated land before, but plans were shot down because the land wasn’t zoned properly, Saville said. He is now looking at three acres off Flynn Road near an industrial area.

It cost the owners of the Ventura BMX raceway about $30,000 to open up, which included an announcers’ booth, concession stand, lawyers’ fees and delivered dirt.

But Saville figures it will take about $20,000 to get the park up and running because he won’t need dirt delivered and plans to get a lot of the material donated.

Saville said the Camarillo site, like the county’s two other tracks, should be ABA-sanctioned and that he would like to eventually hold national competitions there.

Riders, who can range from 4 years old to senior citizens, must join the American Bicycle Assn. to ride on the tracks for $35 annually. Admission is between $3 and $4 on practice days and $8 on race days.