at the Berbhitt. nere ~'t any
foul-ups on the time. nere weren't any
foul-ups anywhere.
TED: What times do you have. to worry
about? You just have to get at a certain
check and don't be late. It's much easier
to set time average for a six~ay event
than it is to layout an average
California enduro, which is like a sports
car rally where you have to ride within
the limits, and then calculate who lost
points because he's too early, who 10lt
points because he's too late, and how
many p.oin ts did he lose. That's a lot
tougher. How many entries diet they
have at Befkshire?
RON: 400.
TED: Ok.ay, most of our enduros are
500, most of the time.
RON: But their enduros back there are
figured and the trophies awarded the
same day. We've yet to have an enduro
where we've been ahie to -have tl,e
results alit even within a couple of
weeks, let arone on the same day.
TED: Well, how are their enduros? Are
their enduros run like ours? Or more of
the Six Day type?
RON: They're exactly the same as ours.
They've just got better scoring systems.
They've gone into interval scoring and
card systems and stuff like that and
they've been doing it for a couple of
years now. We've got a big pool of
talent here, but it's not developed.
We're behind the times:
TED: No, we're not. I don't think we're
behind the times. I think we're way
ahead of our times, really. You've got to
remember that this motorcycle crase
just hit back east. It's bee.n going on
here for twenty-some years now. Hard
riding. I've been involved in it for 20
years. I rode enduros and cross as you
possibly can so they'll come back· nex t
year. If we threw an event that was that
tough, the guys wouldn't get through it,
that's all. Basically, the clubs throw
these events to fatten the kitty so they
can support the neitt one and then have
a party or buy some jackets and things
like that.
Well, if they go ahead and throw a
S·ix Day event, they go in the hole
because they're not enough riders who
enter because they know it's too tough
and the average Novice and Amateur
just has a hell of a time going through
that stuff.
RON: By the same token, though, if
District 37 doesn't host these qualifiers,
the AMA has very little choice but to
look at the areas that do, right? What
evidence have they got that District 37
could throw an ISDN
TED: Oh, you've got to be serious! Are
you kidding? You don't think this area
could host an ISDT event?
RON: I know that the Board of
Directors tried to set one up and
couldn't ge t enough en tries to support
it.
TED: Well, the riders are just not
accepting the way the AMA's doing it.
When something's boycotted from an
area this big, something's got to be
wrong because everyother event that's
thrown here ...well, you know the
number of participants and the
enthusiasm that goes into it. Why all of
a sudden does somehing like this happen
and nobody shows up, nobody enters?
My god, something must be wrong. A
was
priYate individual c:an 10 to Las VepA
and- throw the Mint 400 or go to Baia
and throw CYCIlts like that, and the guys
pay $550 to enter. The best riders and
the fastest equipment in the country ge.t
into that stuff. Yet the AMA sanctions
an event in. Las Vegas and nobody
enters the thing? Something's got to be
wrong there.
RON: We're at a stalemate, you know.
The AMA says District 37 hasn't shown
us anything so we're not going to give
them the ISDT. District 37 responds by
boycotting the one qualifier they have
here.
TED: Do you go to any of the district
meethings? Like I say, 1 haven't been
involved in this thing. Have you gone to
any of the district meetings.?
RON: Lynn Wineland got up at a
district meeting and damn near begged
them to enter. There just wasn't :my
interest. Frankly, I can't agree with'you
!hat it's a case of rejecting the AMA. I
don't think the riders are interested in
ISDT in this area.
TED: They are. Hell, you've got to
remember that for many years the real
pioneers of the ISDT came from this
area, the guys that really started the
interest going.
RON: That'~ true. We've still got a
handful of riders who are into it.· But
Trask Mountain wasn't a long drive
from here. I drove up there in ten hours,
and there wasn't a high country fee or
anything. There weren't many Southern
California riders entered. Nobody went
up. Bad Rock was the same way. There
were very few Southern California
riders. Cannady went up and rode one
and Heininger went up there and didn't
finish, and who else? The Bultaco riders,
Ekins and Steffan. Me and a couple of
enduro riders. I would really like to see
District 37 get into the thing.
TED: So would I. Now all we've got to
do is get them into it.
RON: Well, it does look like they're
easing in through the back door. I've
seen a couple of better enduros run
lately. The Shamrocks and the Dirt
Diggers threw a couple of very good
runs.
TED: See, you've got the Shamrocks
that can throw good evenll. You've got
the Dirt Diggers throw excellent events
every year. Their Hopetown even t is one
of the nicest even ts annually. The
Checkers throw a pretty good event.
They get it together.
RON: None of them, though, have
expr : II my interest in patting OIl _
lSDT·type event, and that', what OR
really bln"C to do.
TED: Well, can't the district incl..a.:
'some of these events in their calendar
for next year, haYe them open for their:
guys to. grab? Give enduro points f or
them. Or give Hare and Hound padUa
for them. I'd say give them Hare anII
Hound points. Then you'l get tIR
riders. That's what the ISDT really'S.
J't's a Hare and Hound from Point A t8
~oint B. Then you rest and have anoiher
cross·country race fo~ the next poilU.
Maybe that's why they're not in it.
There're no points. These guys are an
point crazy. Maybe if you throw one Of
these in and issue some Hare and Houldl
points, some of these clubs would pis
it up.
RO?'/, It seems to me that interest in tIu:
lSDT is lower here than it is in any pall
of the country, with the exception·of
f'".. e or six top riders.
TED: For me, an ISDT'type of evel1t
would really be a tremendous type df
event. I don't ride our standard endures
here because I don't like them. They'a:
not my type of riding. I like to pick up
the pace a. little bit. If I'm too early -at
the checkpoint, I don.t want to b:e
penalized because I'm a good enough
rider to get over the rough terrain and
get there early enough to rest and work
on my bike. I would really like to ha-..:
seen the 1973 ISDT staged out here.
There's more of the type of terrain that
we're used to riding. Do the same thing
to the Europeans that they do to us.
We go over there and we ride,
basically, in country that's completely
unfamiliar to us. They'll still do
excellently, but it would give them a
lit tie different idea of what riding is like
here. What they're going to do now is
come from Europe to the Berkshire and
it's going to be just like they were at
home. If they were to come out here we
could have showed them more
diversified types of riding. We could
have showed ·them mountain riding,
desert riding, any type of riding you can
imagine. You could have it in Reno or
Las Vegas and could have really
diversified terrain. It would have made
it more interesting for us and certain
sections would have been more difficult·
for them.
.....
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III
I
•
There are a lot of v~lid Idells contained In the
above discussion that merit attention at the
AMA Congress In October. For further
thoughts on the Competition Congress Ind
what they might constructively do, see P. 52...
A ProDloter Looks at the BLM, Desert and.Racers
by Ron Vincellette
Buried in the voluminous Code of
Federal Regulations, .Book 24 (or
thereabouts) is a section dealing with
the use of public lands for races, rallies,
and sporting events. This obscure
chapter, along with variously quoted
laws and statutes has been resurrected
of late by the federal governmen t in an
attempt to comply with President
Nixon's latest in a series of land usc
directives. He set a deadline of July 1st
for die Departmen t of the In terior
(BLM) to formulate guidelines for land
control.
The culmination of this directive is a
confidential 15-page document spelling
our rules and regulations for use of the
desert by organized groups of all kinds.
Worthy of note here is that since this is
an internal document as opposed to a
new law, there are no public hearings
proposed prior to implementation of
the procedure. In other words, no one
seems interested in hearing pros and
cons before the procedure is approved
and put into effect. Shades of Big
Brother and 1984!
The details of the directive were
published in the last issue of Cycle
News. The section dealing with desert
racing and enduros can lains rules that
should be' remembered. Briefly these
are:
1. The sponsoring club or
organization must file a Special Land
Use Permit and pay a filing fee of $10 at
least 80 days prior to their event.
2. The club must pay a recreation use
fee of $2. per participan t or 10% of
gross receipts, whichever is more. (The
10% would affect the big events such as
the Mint 400 where the en try fee is over
$300 rather than the average bike race
where the fee would always be $2.)
3. The sponsoring club would be
required to get, and present, written
permission of any private landowners
that the course would cross.
4. The club would be required to
post a performance bond equal to $10
for every expected participan t ill the
even't. For example,- the 3500 riders in
the Barstow·to-Vegas would require The
San- Gabrie,l
