New off-road park near San Diego - Pala Raceway

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MX Motopark Industries Inc., in association with the Pala Band of Mission Indians, today announced the development of Pala Raceway, a 240-acre motocross and off-road racing facility in Pala, CA, 30 miles north of San Diego. With more than five years of planning, engineering and biological studies, Pala Raceway has received all of the necessary permits and federal approvals for construction to commence.

"Pala Raceway is being developed as a modern motocross raceway, and the construction process will include a variety of components to ensure a successful long-term relationship with our neighbors and with the environment," said Ryan Ouellette, president of MX Motopark Industries Inc. "Our goal is to build the sport from the bottom up by providing the best possible venue for participants to ride, race, and relax with their friends and families."

"By using current technology we have developed an infrastructure of irrigation, sound fencing, lighting, and telecommunications to provide a comprehensive base for racing events and for the ease of future park expansions," said Kirk Chandler, vice president and architectural designer of MX Motopark Industries Inc. In addition, Chandler said, Pala Raceway is screening more than 400,000 cubic yards of soil to remove rocks and debris to provide park visitors with the best possible soil conditions on the tracks when the gates open to the public in 2008. Construction will take up to 6 months, and an opening date will be announced as construction nears completion.

Pala Raceway will feature 12 separate professionally designed and prepped tracks, including: Main Motocross, Vet Motocross, Grand Prix Motocross, Amateur Supercross, 80cc-150cc Motocross, 50cc-65cc Mini, Adult Mini, Stadium Side x Side/UTV, Quad, Mini Quad, Professional Supercross and Super Moto tracks. In addition, the raceway will include more than 300 campsites, a clubhouse, a restaurant, a three-acre fishing pond, a BMX race track, and a bike wash for all park visitors.

Pala Raceway will be open for practice seven days a week and will offer night riding on the Amateur Supercross track and Stadium SidexSide tracks. A racing program is in development and an events schedule will be announced.

Pala Raceway is located on Highway 76, approximately seven miles east of Interstate 15, and one and one-half miles east of the Pala Casino Resort Spa. The raceway is closed to the public during the construction process; public tours will be established at a later date. Please direct all inquiries to 1-888-PALA-MX1 and visit www.palaraceway.com for more information. Construction updates are also available by signing up on the web site for the Pala Raceway newsletter.

Neither the Pala Band of Mission Indians Administration offices nor the Pala Casino Resort Spa will be answering any inquiries on the raceway's development, and all questions may be directed to MX Motopark Industries Inc.

"We are grateful and extend our appreciation to the Pala Band of Mission Indians, their General Council, Business Council, Chairman Robert Smith, Vice Chairman Leroy Miranda, Lenore Volturno from Pala EPA and the entire administrative staff for all of their efforts during the past years in developing a world-class racing facility in San Diego County," said Ouellette.

About MX Motopark Industries Inc.:

MX Motopark Industries Inc. is a private company comprised of a group of investors with a passion for motocross and off-road racing. The company's focus is on developing raceway facilities worldwide, and includes an in-house team of architects, designers, engineers and contractors who are well-versed in raceway design, construction and management. MX Motopark Industries Inc. is focused on building raceways and riding areas that are environmentally sensitive and fit within the context of their surroundings by being good neighbors and being proactive with design and engineering.

About Pala Band of Mission Indians:

The Pala Band of Mission Indians consists of 867 members with 600 living on the reservation along the Palomar Mountain range. The reservation is located along 5,000 square miles of California's desert and is approximately 30 miles northeast of San Diego on Interstate 15. Pala Casino, an 185,000 square foot, $115 million casino, entertainment and dining complex owned by the Pala Band of Mission Indians, opened in April 2001.

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http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/02/03/sports/professional/22_53_542_2_08.txt

Sunday, February 3, 2008
Last modified Saturday, February 2, 2008 11:08 PM PST


Pala Raceway at the starting gate

By: RICK HOFF - Staff Writer
New motocross facility set to open later this year

PALA ---- Ryan Ouellette was taking flying lessons over the San Luis Rey River valley a few years ago when a vision came to him.

As president of Encinitas-based MX Motopark Industries, Inc., Ouellette had long been searching for a North County site for a new motocross facility. He found one after flying his small plane over the Pala Reservation.

"I was flying through the valley, and when we got over Pala, I realized what a great area it would be for a motocross park," said Ouellette, a longtime Poway resident.

If all goes as planned, Pala Raceway will open later this year on 240 acres of land located 1 1/2 miles east of the Pala Casino and about seven miles east of Interstate 15. The venue is scheduled to include at least 12 separate professionally-designed tracks for various disciplines, age groups and abilities.

"Pala made this possible, and God knows we need it," said Ouellette, whose MX Motopark Industries is a private company comprised of a group of investors with a passion for motocross and off-road racing.

After more than five years of planning, engineering and biological studies, Pala Raceway has received the necessary permits and federal approvals for construction to begin.

"It's been a long time coming," said chairman Robert Smith of the Pala Band of Mission Indians. "From our perspective, we have a big reservation with a lot of kids with bikes. This will give them a facility where they can ride safely.

"And in the industry, there are a lot of riders out there with nowhere local to ride."

Two other area reservations, La Jolla and Barona, offer small dirt tracks for amateur racing and practice. But since the motocross track at Carlsbad Raceway closed its gates seven years ago, San Diego County has been without a large facility to host major outdoor motocross races such as the U.S. Grand Prix of Motocross that annually attracted 40,000 spectators to Carlsbad Raceway during the motocross boom of the 1970s and '80s.

"Our goal is to build the sport from the bottom up by providing the best possible venue for participants to ride, race and relax with their friends and families," said Ouellette.

To help realize that goal, professional motocross racer Kirk Chandler will play a big role in the design of the facility as vice president and architectural designer for MX Motopark Industries.

"I've been racing since I was 5, and I've raced at Barona and Carlsbad," Chandler said. "I'm looking forward to applying my background in racing to the architectural design."

That design, according to Chandler, will include an infrastructure of irrigation, sound fencing, lighting and telecommunications.

"It will be just as extensive as designing a golf course," he said. "The infrastructure has to be there."

Construction is scheduled to take up to six months, and the end results could be a Taj Mahal of motocross parks. Among the separate tracks will be the main motocross track, a Grand Prix motocross track, a vet motocross track, tracks for the smaller mini-cycles, a side-by-side UTV track, two quad tracks, and professional and amateur supercross tracks.

An asphalt karting track and a BMX track are also in the mix. Among the amenities planned are a clubhouse, restaurant, fishing pond, and no less than 300 campsites.

Nobody associated with the project wanted to divulge its anticipated cost other than to say it was a multimillion-dollar project.

"We will be screening more than 400,000 cubic yards of soil to remove rocks and debris to provide the best possible soil conditions on the tracks," Chandler said.

Parking and traffic flow will also be taken into serious consideration, Ouellette said.

"Highway 76 is already a corridor to the desert, so we see a lot of off-road traffic go through here," Ouellette said. "It's my understanding that with the help of all the tribes along the 76, the highway will be widened and straightened."

Added Chandler, "Parking will be a big issue, so we'll be paying close attention to that."