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Cycle News 1973 10 16

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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Page 18 . The Feels and October 16, 1973 ' government bureaucrat that he does not know it all, and that any ideas and proposals that he has are certainly not the end to the brainpower that it takes to get at land use problems and 2) that this is a basic part of the democrati.c process and that it does work. You get ideas from the so-called layman that you never even though t of. You can get bits and pieces of information that are very vital, that you just don't have in terms of resource values themselves. I could give quite a sermon on this - I'm very keenly aware of this public participation process and the value of it. " The Shamrocks M.C. reportedly recently had a few problems communicating with Riverside, California BLM oJficials concernmg arran'ging for a SLUP within the time limits. Some observers of the situation ,believe that the BLM officials in question were' much too arbitrary in their decisions, and claim that the Shamrocks were given an extremely hard time because, allegedly, some of their permit paperwork was not in 60 days before the proposed race. The deadline day, they say, 'was a Sunday, yet one BLM official refused for a time to accept the;'; papers the next day, Monday, even though the BLM office was closed on Sunday. I asked Turcott what people caught in what they considered an unfair decision by local BLM officials could do about it, and where they should pr,esent their case. "They should go first to the District Manager, (in this case, Del Vail), if it is not he who made this decision on a fine' hair of a procedure. 1f that doesn't do any good, they ought to go to the State Director O.R. Penny). If that doesn't do ,any good they should come to the Director of the BLM( Curtis J. Berkland). The case example that you used there, of being sO strict on one day, a Sunday and a holiday, was probably not good judgment. On the other hand, I would have to have actual facts before I could condemn anyone allegedly doing something like that. I just don't know that it did happen. If it did, and that's all of the circumstances, tha t 's poor judgment." (The information concerning this alleged case was supplied to Cycle New.s by Jim Manning, Bob Ham, and Bob Hayes of M.O.R.E. Cycle News is not attempting to pass judgment on the correctness of this information, but has passed on the allegations merely for discussion purposes, and in good faith ... Ed.) When asked about the bias and semantic slant tendencies displayed by much conservationist input to the BLM, and what ORV enthusiasts could do Continued on page 26 dirt riding Continued from page 4 How did the BLM arrive at one dollar as the land use fee in California? "In essence," responded Turcott, "it was based upon an appraised approach. A professional appraiser went out and gathered all kinds of data in what we call a comparability approach. Considering the fees gathered for such events (desert races, enduros, etc.) on land similar in character, either private, ' state or even other federal lands, the appraisal came ou t to abou t two dollars per person per day. In negotiating with some of the ORV interest groups, J.R. • Penny (California state BLM director) reduced it to a dollar, as a matter of reasonableness. There's actually a lot more detail to it than that, but that's the general approach that evolved:: According to other BLM sources, the fee will be going up in California very soon. Other states have higher fees already, and a re-evaluation based on "fair, market value" will probably be finished before too long. Many ORV representatives are concerned that government agencies involved in regulation of off-road vehicle use do not actually use public inpu t when making any decisions, jus t hold' public meetings (like those in Southern California) and hearings, to pacify the public. I asked Turcott if the BLM actually cared what people had to say. "Yes!" he responded emphatically. "It's not only used, but seriously considered as well. These are not formal public hearings as such," he con tinued, backing away from th~t terminology much as Alan Lamb of the Forest Service had, "in which all of the testimony is taken down and recorded. N or are answers developed for questions as they come up for public review. At some fonnal hearings, such as those under the National Environmental Policy act, this is done. Ours are just open house meetings for discussions. I can assure you that notes, summaries, and anything in writing that's turned in is very carefully reviewed." With this, Turcott continued on to expand upon the BLM viewpoint on the importance of public participation in land management. "BLM has pioneered this approach in terms of land use planning. Public participation meetings, ope,! house meetings are a very vital part of land use planning to us. I can assure you that the input that we get' from these meetings I) proves to the SPEAK/NCOF SPEEDWAY By Mi~e B~st I must say, I am very sorry for not getting my column off last week. Since my brother and I have been negotiating with the promoter for ,the Royal Showgrounds in Sidney, Australia, all my spare time has been spen t getting letters off to him. In the meantime Steve and I have been .,vorking together crating our Jawas in order to get them on the boat in time. We just made it by two days. Hopefully, by the first of November, which is four days after the U.S. Championship, we will be boarding the airplane bound for Australia for three months of speedway. The qualifying rounds for the U.S. Championship are well underway, and we should know by the end of the next week who will ride in the final at Costa Mesa. The second , qualifying round was run two weeks ago at Yen tura, and the meeting was very well run. Some of the boys did better than expected. Bill Cody and Darmy Becker had a runoff for second with thirteen points apiece. Dan made the gate and led to the finish for second in the final. I was delighted with my fifteen point win. . The following Thursday at Irwindale, promoter Ed Meister, who was ,back preparing the race track after suffering an illness, had the track in fine form. As the Scratch main rolled around, the last race of the evening, I found myself linninl: up against brother Steve, Rick , Woods, and Dan Becker. I knew right from the start it was going to be a tight one, and it was. In four laps we all had the lead at least once. Woods took the win; I ended up third.' 'Rounding out the week's racing schedule was, of course, Friday night at Costa Mesa. A crowd of about seven thousand watched the hands change in the scratch main. The line up was Ste"e Bast, Rick Woods, Mike Konle, who was riding very well, and myself. Steve Bast drew d'te pole and Woods was on the outside, myself in the third spot and Konle in the second spot. It seemed that the outside -was a good starting position that night, as everyone gating from there was getting off the line extremely well. So this frightened me a little. Woods is good off the gate. I beat Woods off the line, but Steve beat us both to the tlll'n. At this time, I figured Steve had the race won because when a rider like Steve Bast is first in the corner, you just don't pass him. The way the promoter had the track set up, you couldn't ride on the pole as normal. From the beginning of the night, the track was very slick on the pole and very heavy on the outside. After following Steve for one lap, I knew that I couldn't pass him there, so I moved to the outside where the cushion was and it worked. I managed to get a better drive coming out of the comer. Because of this, I held the lead to the finish with Woods right behind the whole way. Normally, I wouldn't be able to pass on the outside, because its not my style of riding. I suspect the track will be like this until the end of the season, and for the Championship. Speaking of championships, I won the West Coast Championship last Tuesday with a fifteen point minimum for the second straigh t year and was thrilled. Brother Steve was in for second with fourteen points and Bill Cody finished third with eleven points. • GET IT OM! Get it on arid get it dirty. The Hang Ten 'Dirt Shirt' is made to stay together. Up in the air or down in the dirt, you've got it made. Tough colors and stripes that look the part. It also gives you the room to really move and the protection you need! Get it on. The 'Dirt Shirt' by Hang Ten. The 'Dirt Shirt' is available at your participating American Honda Dealer. ,... • I '.. 1.'! ~, :;'

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