VOLUME 59 ISSUE 39 SEPTEMBER 27, 2022 P139
Unadilla was indeed a memo-
rable race in MXdN history, but
this was not the case the next
time the race would come to
America. Well, at least tried to
come to America.
When it was announced March
27, 2002, that the Motocross
des Nations was planning to
revisit the U.S. later that year
after the previous track in Europe
suddenly backed out of hosting
it, American fans were thrilled to
hear the news. But everyone was
surprised when they heard the
venue that the FIM had chosen
to host the race—Competition
Park, a small little-known track in
San Jacinto, California. "Com-
petition, what?" That was most
people's reaction to the news.
This would be like giving golf's
President Cup to your local com-
munity golf course. A few South-
ern California motocrossers
knew the place. It was a small
facility built on an old dairy farm.
However, little to most people's
knowledge, a new and much
larger Competition Park was
already being planned for the
MXdN and would be maintained
thereafter for local racing. The
promotors had recently given up
their lease on the original site
knowing a new and improved
one was in the works.
The new Competition Park,
also known as "Comp Park II,"
was located on the Soboba Mis-
sion Band of Indians Reservation
six miles from the original track
but was far from completed when
the news broke. So, the FIM and
Dorna, the European promo-
tion company that, at the time,
owned the rights to the MXdN
(and MXGP, MotoGP, etc.), had
essentially selected a track to
host its beloved race that didn't
even exist! Very strange. And to
make things even more head-
scratching, the new Competition
Park track didn't really seem like
the ideal place to host a world-
class race of this magnitude.
The track was being built on a
60-acre unappealing parcel of
flat land, out in the middle of
"nowhere," that barely seemed
suitable to host a decent-size lo-
cal race, let alone the MXdN. At
least that's what it seemed, but,
hey, it wasn't finished yet. Give
them a chance, right?
So why did the FIM choose
Competition Park over more
attractive facilities like Budds
Creek, RedBud, Washougal, or
even Glen Helen? Good ques-
tion, because it was reported that
these tracks didn't want to pay
the rumored $650,000 sanction-
ing fee, nor did Jorge Jobe—the
former MX World Champion who
initially stepped in to promote the
2002 MXdN in Spa, Belgium—or
anyone else in Europe for that
matter. So, the FIM and Dorna
were seemingly desperate to
find a track for the rapidly ap-
proaching September 29 MXdN
race. The Comp Park promoters
stepped up to the plate and were
granted permission by the FIM
to host the MXdN—with a signifi-
cantly reduced sanctioning fee of
approximately $125,000, it was
reported.
And to make things even
weirder, the AMA was never
For a while, Competition Park (II) did exist and hosted practice days.
