Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

gambit cont••••• B riders. Class B events, non-points events, would carry no special privileges for Class A riders, but would count in the promotion of riders from Class B to Class A status. aturally they would be easier, more relaxed events and. possibly. they could encourage large entries. No club hosting a first enduro, or having badly botched the previous year's run would be allowed to hold a Class r\ event, unless thc;:re were no other method of selecting that District's candidates for the Championship (As in the case (\f a new dislrict, or a district with only one event a year.). No club unwilfin!; to score an event the same day it Was run should be allowed to host a Class A event. The advantages of this system are many. Since there would be.a tangible and prestigiou's award available: the invitation to the four Championship events, interest in the Class A enduro would skyrocket. Interest in becoming a Class A rider would -Jso go up, since there would be rewards, guaran teed entries, better starting numbers and of course the chance to compete in the cham'pionship. Right now 'it is advan tagCOlIS to remain a B rider, because it's ea.-;ier to win trophies and there's no reward for advancement. The,e would be a de facto Beginners class set up with Tuns tailored to their needs (Class B events), something that is seriously needed throughout the coun try and whose lack is encouraging private promoters to fill the gap. The system au tlined would not only give us a true National Enduro Champion, but also a whole bunch of riders who would like to try for the honor. And it would assure that the name of the National Enduro Champion would be known outside of Ohio. If you. the enduro riders, like the idea, write to me or to the AMA and let someone know. Things only move when pushed. /--writin' Around-", CALIFORNIA LAND-LOCK Less Sound, Green Stick ie, So Why No More Ground Yet? I Government Testing Answe(ed b y - - - - - - - - - - - - - - better dlilll half the helmets can no Helmet Industry: Facts recently released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that 90% of motorcycle helmets tested over a year ago failed to meet the head protection criteria of the American National Standards Institute are an overstatement for at least" two reasons, according to Richard Babbitt, president of the afety Helmet Council of America. First. 1\Ir. Babbitt said, longer be purchased; and second, the testing was apparently done to the now obsolete ANSI 1966 Standard. The Safety Helmet Council questions some of the technical modes of testing, and calls particular attention to the American National Standard's Lnstitute's revision of an error in the time duration factor used in the current specification. This error is now being corrected through ANSI procedural channels. 0_GrilE/Keep ft IIBJ . '" by Charles Clayton Whatever they say about California's off-road motorcycle riders, they can't say we haven't co-operated. We volunurily quieted our dirt bikes, even though there was no law t"at said we had to, while chanting "Less sou nd, mote ground." Then, by the thousands, we purchased the green off-road registration stickies put out by the State Parks and Recreation Department, who in turn promised us that most of the sticky fee would provide that much "more ground" tbat we wanted. • Then we waited for them to make the next move_ We are still waiting. All that has happened so far is the sute has some half-million dollars of our money and they haven't yet provided onc square inch more ground for off-road recreation. They say they were told by motorcycle spokesmen that more bikers would buy t~e green stickles, but that is a lie. We told them that "a few thousand would buy the stickles at ftrst, .nd then the rest will wait to see what happens," "Jf and when you open good rid ing land for green sticky holders," we conclu.ded, "then more riders will register their bikes. " Instead, the state is trying to force us to buy the stickies. What . used to be a harmless recreation is becoming a hunted sport. Guerrilla opposition is starting to emerge, such as counterfeit green stickles. Meantime the Bureau of Lane! Management, jealous of the state's new source of revenue, is blatantly trying to rip off organized racers, the most harmless denizens of the desert, for an illegal "head tax" and unobtainable liability insurance. The timing of the BLM's money grab scems calculated to cause the biggest rumble, coming as it does in the middle of the .still-unresolved green sticky situation. Motorcycle clubs and riders are getting fed up. We have policed ourselves. We've cooperated with the authorities and they've ju~t leaned on us that. much harder. Unless progress toward the "more ground" half of the popular slogan comes soon, I fear that rebellion will happen. Before it is too late, the California Parks and Recreation Department must open some land to motorcycle riding, giving at least some of the green sticky buyers what they paid for. I have heatd all of the do-noth ing, bureaucratic reasons why this can't yet be done, but they are merely excuses. The time for "more ground H is right now. the Parks and Recreation people must provide it immediately . ... U"J c "o - '" Q. N ,... Ol N ,; 0 Z '" ~ W Z W ..J U >- U CBS TV AttDs Bikers as Reps Ignore Them While BLM Keeps on Bureaucrattln' A concerned off-road. rider wrote to the BLM through his Senator, Alan Cranston. ThiS IS what he got for hiS efforts: ~Cllife~ -S>£a fe.s ,.$enate WASHINGTON. D.C. torcycle Club '0 range, Cal i fornia Dear Hr. Fricke: Enclosed is the official re sponse to my inquiry in your behalf. I hope that this reply will be useful and infonnative. If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to let me know. with best wishes, tbb 1a 1D t"!pl,. to :roar A~~ 31 tnqu1rv on b~ha1f of '11' ~ Rt 11 Y1'icke. St:.-p J.-pers 11otorcyele Club. O1'Ml~, California. concern1np h3rassnent of deHrt race•. Mr. Fricke ..,. be allDd{u, to the requ1reme.nt that orp,anized races with ~ 2S w.btc.lea obtain a special land use penr.1 t and pay a &pedal recnaticm ~e ftt. In reQu1rt.D« apec:.ia..l land ~e pendts, the 8ureau of LAnd Jof..Anar.Ct:K!nt. 's Cal1.fom.1a State Office 1s re.pond1n~ t.o executiw and le,j.slat1ve Mrec.t:1ves . It. has long been Fedenl policy that a te8son3ble ch8r~c Ahould be -.de to each idef,tif18ble redpient. for a aeasurable unit or amount of toWm.ent aen'1.ce OT sn''OrertT froo ..,h1.-ch he derives a spedal benefit. ,",ere are :!K"VenIl l:NS which relnforce th.is policy. M • cOfleequea.ee 9 _ fees are beinR ch"r~d for 1'>everal d1fferent types of actlrlrtes • ...., of vtdch are not related to off-road vehicle use. At the presertt: t:t.. a fee p~ralll 15 be inA consIdered for all special _81 of the !"!bIle 1.aDda. r.z..plee of these UlIeti are survival train1n,.. onanlud toun. backpacldn~. rtver flo3tbo.tin~. and horseback r1din~ eftTIt.. 'r.1e lAnd and W;tter r.oQfJerv8t!on Fund Ae:t of 196'i. as amended by the Act: of .Jul,. 11. 1972 (PI. "2-347), s~ates in Section 4. (n) (2) "Special ~cre.ttan perMits [or usea Ruch a~ rroup ae:tlvtttes. ~cr~At1nn events, -otorlzed rec=ft!at1oa gehiclu 9 «ad other apec:1allzed recreation Ul!Ie!I may be f •• oed 111 aceordance vtth procedunl!l and at fees established by the ~cy 1.nYOlged.·· E21ee:at:t~ . Alan Cranston This commentary from the BLM and Alan Cranston (such as it is) is in light of the fact that each racer/rider pays a head tax; sponsoring organizations pay a land use fee for which the BlM is supposed to ensure use of that public land but, instead, allowed two conflicting off-road events to run on the same land November 25, the S.G.V.M.C. Hare and Hound and a NORRA four·wheel race. Land user groups are being ripped off by the BlM and, within California, by the ORV registration requirement. They get nothing for it. As if this indifference isn't enough, CBS Television aired a spot on the six o'clock news that was an opinionated, distorted put·down of desert riders disguised as a news story. Prominent in the story were mis-matched film clips edited to portray desert riders as devastators and assurances to John Q. Public that desert rangers and U.S. marshals will be cracking down on the desert bikers. BLM threats of land use injunctions were also referenced. . The alter!"atives would seem to be equal lime to point out the inaccuracies and misrepresentation in the television "news" story or a boycott of Channel 2, KNXT Los Angeles, advertisers. The so

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