Fans treated to Moto-X and music

By: BRIAN ECKHOUSE - Staff Writer | Saturday, March 25, 2006 11:15 PM PST ∞

LAKE ELSINORE ---- The Diamond was at about 25-percent capacity for Saturday's Factory Freestyle Moto-X Competition and Music Festival, but judging by the noise alone ---- particularly during band Guttermouth's set ---- the event could have been confused for a Lake Elsinore Storm playoff game.

Instead of baseballs whizzing across the infield, there were motorcycles flying and flipping from ramp to ramp as the bikes' riders acrobatically held on by their seats or handlebars. The three ramp-to-ramp trailers encircled the infield.

No one seemed to smile more than Mike Metzger, considered one of the most talented Freestyle racers worldwide. Metzger, a Wildomar resident, hosted the inaugural Factory Freestyle Moto-X Competition.

"It's about having a party right here, right here in Lake Elsinore," said Metzger, as a couple dozen teenagers ran wildly about a mosh pit during punk band Guttermouth's set. "I had always heard (before Saturday), 'When are you going to have a show right here?' Well, now you have it. Hopefully, this becomes a yearly event."

The mosh pit ---- like most of the fans on the field during Guttermouth's performance ---- wasn't anticipated. But Metzger, sensing the crowd's anxiousness, invited fans onto the field for the punk rock band's performance.

So a few hundred people bounded for the field.

Guttermouth, performing on a stage on the infield grass that faced the third-base line, didn't complain.

Singer Mark Adkins acknowledged near the close of the set that he had fretted the band would be performing for "nacho-eating fat people."

Hardly.

The mosh pit was a sea of frenzied teenage and early 20-something males wearing black shirts and dark baseball caps. But it never turned overly rowdy, and no one was arrested during the band's set, according to the Lake Elsinore Police Department.

Adkins wasn't the only one who was worried.

"When I first got here and saw where the stage was, I was pissed," said fan Alice Brown, 20, of Whittier. "There'd be no mosh pit, no spirit, nothing. But Metzger, he pulled us down here. That was good."

Sarrah Farrell joined the group on the field, but opted to stand at the back of the crowd. Farrell, who lives in Escondido, was with her two young daughters, Rainy and Mimi, ages 5 and 2, respectively.

"We're enjoying it back here," said Farrell, who held Mimi in her arms as Rainy sat on her shoulders. "Close to the stage, it's fairly loud."

Even the riders ---- sans Metzger ---- joined the mosh pit.

"That's not unusual," said Ben Milot, a racer who hails from Montreal. "It's motocross, you know. It's just a big party."

Besides Metzger and Milot, other riders who participated included Larry Linkogle, Kenny "the Cowboy" Bartram, Drake "the Misfit" McElroy, Myles Richmond, Dustin "Wacker" Nowak and Julian Dusseau.

Officials of the Storm, the San Diego Padres' Single-A minor-league team, contended that they weren't upset that fans were dancing all over third base ---- less than two weeks before the team's season begins.

"We don't mind," said Chris Jones, the team's assistant general manager. "Mike Metzger's a good friend of ours."

Contact staff writer Brian Eckhouse at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2626, or beckhouse@californian.com.

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