Slaw
On November 4, 2024, Lake Elsinore Motorsports Park announced it was closing.
The California facility, which had hosted rounds of AMA Pro Motocross and other events, said the decision was due to a “lawsuit from a tragic accident that occurred in June the property owner has terminated our agreement as they are being brought into it as well.” On June 4 of that year, nine-year-old Brooke Carlton tragically lost her life after colliding with another rider.
On the other side of the story, per CBS News, “a lawyer who represents the Carlton family says that while they are investigating what was referred to as a “freak accident” back at the time, they have not filed any lawsuit against the park.
“They say that there is no correlation between Brooke’s death and the park’s closure, and that the Carlton family doesn’t want to hurt Lake Elsinore’s large motocross community.”
While we don’t know all the details behind the closure, we now know it is coming back and you will recognize the names behind it.
Jason Baker, world renowned track builder, owner of Dream Traxx and the Moto Sandbox training facility, and his partner Bryan Wallace, who has been running Fox Raceway the past few years, are bringing the facility back and VurbWes got an exclusive look at it today.
The facility is hosting a private ride day on Tuesday and we’ll have a ton more over the next few days so make sure to follow Vurbmoto on socials and YouTube.
For now, here is what the pair had to say on Monday about when it will open to the public (announcement coming soon), the all-new layout and more:
Interview/Images by VurbWes
Jason Baker
Jason Baker: We’re out here at Lake Elsinore and it is coming back so we’re really excited. Just taking all the years of experience that I’ve gained obviously with Dream Traxx and doing events all around the world and being able to be a part of so many different things and we’re just taking that knowledge and applying it out here. You can see behind us we’re getting things going.
We’re having a test out here tomorrow so it’s really more about the behind-the-scenes glimpse of what’s going on. We’re still a little ways out before we open to the public. Got some good friends of mine that you know pros and stuff like that people I trust and rely on they’re going to come out tomorrow kind of give us some feedback and give us an idea you know are headed in the right direction or do we need to alter some things.
So, I’m really happy to be at this point. We’ve done a lot of great work behind us and the team is out here pushing hard and excited about tomorrow.
Vurb: So, let’s not let the cat out of the bag too much but you did tell me all new layout.
Okay, so one thing really exciting I don’t want to give too much away yet but there will be a completely new layout. You know some stuff similar but for the for the most part we’re probably at like a 98 or 99 percent complete change out here. So, you guys will get to see some of that tomorrow and we’re excited to bring that to you.
Last question: What do you think of the Lake Elsinore dirt? How are you Dream Traxx-ing it up out here?
So, one thing with Lake Elsinore you hear all different stuff about the dirt. You know, hard pack, slimy, everything in between. So, I’m just taking again the years of experience that I’ve had. I’ve dealt with dirt all over the world and I honestly I like the dirt so far. Everywhere I’m digging there it holds and retains really good moisture which is a good thing.
I almost think that potentially some of the stuff that I’ve heard in the past I think they were almost over watering. This dirt accepts water really well compared to a lot of the desert dirt that’s out here. So, we’re still learning and that’s part of the process tomorrow. But we’ve got some tricks up our sleeve too that that we may add to this stuff and to make it even better. But we want to start with just the dirt as it is. If we can make that good then we know we can make it even better down the road.
Bryan Wallace
Vurb: Hey, Bryan, I saw you over there admiring your dirt to water mixture. You turn the screw a little bit?
Yeah it’s… I don’t think this track’s ever seen a rototiller in the ground like this so very excited about seeing all this and this process work for sure.
Vurb: And so, what’s going on out here?
We are just out here turning some dirt, making some dreams happen for sure. It’s gonna be a whole new turn on racetracks here in Southern California for sure.
Vurb: And what do you think so far? Has it exceeded expectations? Has it been fun?
My god it’s incredible. I mean I’m excited to have Jason Baker as my business partner with this whole scenario and being able to get his you know his mind at this is gonna be just insane. I don’t think anybody’s ever seen it, especially out here in California, so very excited about all that.
Vurb: What’s going down tomorrow?
Oh man we’re gonna have a private ride day here with all the teams and you know gonna put this thing to the test and actually see what you know what we came up with and give it a shot and we’re gonna give her hell you know so pretty damn exciting to bring it back.
Vurb: Is this a dream come true?
Gosh man it’s wild being able to you know work here many many years ago to doing other tracks at the time and now coming back as a full circle. It is just incredible. You know eight years ago or 10 years ago when I was here at that time frame it was definitely a whole different scenario than what I know now and all this knowledge that I’ve acquired and obviously being with around Jason as many years as I have been and stuff and you know managing other facilities. To be able to do something like this on our own and not having anybody else telling us how and why or anything is going to be insane.
Vurb: Gonna do things different?
Oh yeah! This is going to be the track to talk about for sure. You know anything that everybody’s always talked about doing and oh I wish we could do this and wish we could do that and you know why couldn’t we do it that better. This is this is the time to shine. We’re gonna definitely change the game in this whole scenario.
Vurb: What do you think about your new layout? Are you excited?
Oh man it’s going to be insane. I mean Elsinore has never looked as pretty as it does right now. So super excited to see what everybody thinks for tomorrow and it’s going to definitely be a test to see how it is. I’m actually going to try to ride it tomorrow. I’m going to throw a helmet on and get old Jason on there and old Sean and we’re going to try and throw some laps down for sure.
