Owners Hope Motocross Park Turns Lake Bed Into Pay Dirt

Is Irvine Lake half-full or half-empty? Either way, Brad Etter sees it as a winner for motocross.

That’s because Etter and his two partners are opening a professional motocross park in a dry portion of Irvine Lake called Woody’s Cove.

He said they are giving thousands of Orange County motocross enthusiasts what they have yearned for since 1984--a closed-course park for off-road motorcycle racing and riding that is clean, safe and geared toward families.

The trial run for Saddleback Motorsports Park will be Labor Day weekend. The park will be open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

The Serrano Water District, which co-owns recreation rights with the Irvine Co., has given Saddleback Motorsports Partners LLC a temporary permit to maintain three motocross courses on the southwest corner of the lake.

So far, the park seems to have drawn little opposition from environmentalists, but that might be because few know about it.

Sherry Meddick, a Silverado Canyon resident and environmental activist, heard about the motocross courses only three days ago.

“In the early 1980s, when they had another track here, traffic was a terrible problem,” she said.

“I don’t know how they are going to deal with the cars now. The other day I drove by and there was a lot of cars parked there, people looking at the track and blocking the bicycle lanes.”

Andrew Wetzler, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Los Angeles, said he hadn’t heard about the motocross park, but said track managers should be concerned about the surrounding environment, which contains the endangered California gnatcatcher, a tiny songbird.

“If they ‘take’--meaning harass, or kill or harm in some way--a gnatcatcher, it’s breaking the federal [Endangered Species Act],” Wetzler said.

While the courses were under construction, Etter hired a biologist to check on any environmental concerns.

“He said we weren’t encroaching on anything,” Etter said.

“We were very careful where we put our track. There’s a delicate balance here. We want to make sure we stay within those bounds.”

Etter hopes to keep the park open year-round, but he realizes that probably isn’t realistic: “We’re always going to be subject to flooding. If we get El Nino rains, we’ll have an issue.”

Dave Noyes, general manager for the water district, said he welcomes the motorcycles and increased traffic.

“We’re trying to make the lake more of a full-service recreation area--for profit, that’s the bottom line,” Noyes said.

The water district has jurisdiction over the land below the waterline, and the rest belongs to the Irvine Co., which has asked Etter to buy $10 million in liability insurance.

Etter said he thinks motorcycles, campers, fish and fisherman should all be able to get along.

“This is very protected cove,” he said. “It’s an area where people will like to camp and ride. I don’t see the fisherman having a problem. That hill really eats up the sound. It’s not going to be any louder than cars coming down the canyon road.”

Although there has been little fanfare about the park’s grand opening, the buzz has been getting louder.

Each day for the last few weeks as the park has neared completion, motocross junkies have pulled over on rural, winding Santiago Canyon Road to peer down at the rolling course.

Etter, a 29-year-old tax attorney, said that he has been receiving thank-you e-mails and phone calls from people who as kids rode the dusty trails of the old Saddleback Park, an open-trail riding park that attracted national and international competitions.

The park closed after it was denied insurance in 1984 after several deaths and serious injuries.

The old park, which opened in 1968, was two miles west of the new one, next to a landfill on Irvine Co. land.

In the years since motocross left Orange County, the sport’s popularity has exploded and its demographics have changed.

For the last 17 years, motocross riders have had to trek to Lake Elsinore, Beaumont and San Bernardino to get their fix, he said.

“There were no women or children back in those days,” Etter said. “It was a lot young, single guys who liked to ride fast.”

Three of the motorcycle industry’s main manufacturers--Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki--have their U.S. headquarters in Orange County. Honda’s is in Torrance.

“This is a big deal, considering the recent growth of motocross and motorcycles,” said Tony Gardea, spokesman for Chevy Trucks Kawasaki.

“There are tens of thousands of motocross enthusiasts within hours.”

The park will accommodate all ages and styles of riders.

There will be separate tracks for children younger than 6, beginners and older people, and advanced riders.

Admission will be $10 or $20, depending on the class of motorcycle.

After the Labor Day weekend, the park will be open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday and 4 to 10 p.m. Thursday.

Etter said he can’t wait to hear the whining sound of the motorcycles.

“I can’t sleep,” he said “Every night’s the day before Christmas. This has been a dream of ours for a long time. It’s great to realize there’s a lot of people out there who share the same dream.”

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Times staff writers Matthew Ebnet and Janet Wilson contributed to this report.