Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

req uired. I don ' t know exac tly w h y bu t it wa s necessary. I was to ld th a t th ey had to do that. They have co mpl e ted tha t now, bu t th e cost was a p proxi ma tely I O,OOO! For just an aerial su rvey? SI O,OO O? I n th e m eant im e, th e sta te has come back to us a nd has cu t o u t a bo u t h alf o f th at m o n ey : th e reaso n th ey ga ve us is th at th ey ca n not fund a ny thing tha t's co mpeti ti o n-rela ted. In ot her words th ey will not spend a ny m oney o n th e m o tocross tra ck a t a ll o r a grand p rix track, which m eans th ey won't put in a n y sprinklers or a lightin g system. Didn't they tell yo u that i n th e beginning? What now? No , n o t at a l l. That' s apparentl y a new po licy. So now a ll we ca n do is d evelop tra i ls, pu t in permanent restrooms, fenci ng, so me water system a nd so m e securi ty lighting, b u t th e y won 't al low any o f t h e competi tion-rela ted it ems which reall y puts a liind on us because we rea ll y wer e co u nti ng o n th at . One o f th e big problem s we hav e here is watering because th e track it self a nd the a rea is so hill y. It 's e x tre me ly hi lly a nd it ' s a l mos t impossible to water it wi th a wa ter truck. We've brok en th ree wa ter trucks o u t here tryi ng to water the track . W hen did yo u firs t open? We open ed in Ma y of 'S I , a n d we had abou t six week s o f reall y hea vy raci ng. We wer e drawing 250 to 300 riders everv wee k. We had a n In la n d Empire Dealers Associa tio n m ot ocross series. T hat was a th ree-week series wh ich d id ex tre rne lv well . We we re even o u td rawing Saddleback and India n Du nes, which is pretty hard to do. After about five or six wee ks we fou nd tha t we rea lly weren't able to wat er the track properly. We were j us t breaking to o much eq uipment. So we ac tua lly sh ut down racing co m p le tely durin g the su m mer a nd we've o n ly run m a ybe three ra ces si nce th e su m me r. We've kept th e park o pen for o pen rid ing since Ma y but 'we ha ve shut down th e co mpeti tion a nd pl an to sta rt again in Ma rch. T he reason we're sta rti ng it u p again is th at we p ut in a n irri ga tio n system here wh ich is o n loan from .the co u nty. It 's actua ll y fa rmer irr iga tion systems but th ey're ex tre mely... well , th ey lea k a lot . T hev take-a lo t of ma intenance to keep th em up a nd they break a lo t a nd th e r iders keep r id ing o ver them . Wedid go to th e co u nty, w h ic h rel eased a p proxima tely $6, 000 for PVC m at er ial to be b uried under the grou nd. T he soil h ere is almost perfect when it's wet. I mean, just pe rfect soil to ride o n. It 's verv lo a m v. It's in between sand and decomposed granite . We have a lmost no clav at all out here. All the riders just lo~e the soil u nti l it gets dry. Wh en it gets dry, it does ge t d us ty and that 's been our major p ro blem so far. T he tr ack is very long an d it's got gia nt h ill s in it. Bob Hannah said it was a Nati onal -cal iber tra ck . We'd eve nt ua lly like lO put a Nat io nal o n her e because t he track is d esigned wi th AMA specs in m ind. It has a 120-foo t sta rt ing ga te. T he wh ol e tr ack is complet el y fen ced with a fivefoot chai n link. The o n ly part th a t doesn' t meet AMA specs is th e pit area, because it's not co m p le tely fen ced off. We p lan ro h ave th a t correct ed i n a cou p le of months a n yway. The to tal acr ea ge here is 300 acres. Is that counting the co m p lete park? Tha t's co u nting every thing. We co u ld put in a bou t a n eigh t mi le gran d prix tr ack by u tili zin g the w hole park. You 'd have to run a grand prix a t th e right time o f year in th e winter time due to fire hazards, even though we ha ve fire breaks. We eve n h a ve a n s . area -se t aside-fer-a n -AT V- tra ck. -We - also have a second motocross track righ t no w. It h as a 100-foot srarting ga te o n it a nd is irr iga ted . We do ha ve a Ilat tra ck w h ic h is a little under a quarter mi le b ut we hav en 't ru n any races o n it yet. We ha ve an area set aside for a speedway track , wh ich is goi ng to be mad e to the exact d imensions as the one in Sa n Berna rd in o. We have a giant sa nd was h t ha t yo u ca n r u n in a lt hough, we have lO get special pe rmissio n for ir . We co u ld easi ly pu r o n a n o ff-road race for carsou t here. We're still working wit h th e state to tr y to get th em lO ch a nge th eir pol icy so we ca n put in some co mpe titi o n related facilities. What is th eir main gripe against competition? It 's sports related. I thi nk their main g ri pe is tha t co m petition bik es don ' t pa y a Green Sti ck ie fee, for exam p le yo ur Yamah a YZs. T hey get an O ra n ge Sti cki e w hich doe sn 't co ntribu te to th e Green S tic kie fund . Wh er e vour IT s do co n tribute - yo u get a Green Stickie for th at: P robabl y SO%o f yo ur bi kes that a re in vo lved in raci ng d on 't pa y a G ree n Stic kie fee. An other 20% d o. But si nce i t is a sma ll a mo u nt th ey don't feel th at th ey _shou ld fun d co m pet itio n- rel a ted item s. I d on 't want to be th e a u thori tv o n th at bu t th at 's m y o p in io n o f ~ha t they'r e tell in g us. It 's reall y to o bad beca use a o ff-roa d park rea lly ca n' t ma ke it wi thout co m peti tion. T he re is n't o ne park in so uthern Ca lifornia o r the U nited Sla tes tha t co u ld even break even if a ll th ey had was open ridi ng. Sadd leback ha s told me that and so has Ind ian Du nes, and those are the two most successful parks arou nd. Neither woul d DeAn za Cvcl e Pa rk: if a ll they had wa s open rid in g rh ev wo u ld not be a ble to br eak even. Competition bri ngs pe ople in here. All o f th e G ree n Stickie pa rk s a re in competi tion with each o ther. Bein g th at they' re so cl ose in so uthern Califo rn ia. esp eci a lly? . Yes, especia lly DeAn za a nd Arroyo. T hey tell u s that both o f us a re co mpe ti ng for th e same a mou nt o f m oney. H owever, th in gs a re working o u t a n d peop le just n eed lO know we're out here rac i ng. What ra ces do yo u have here scheduled at Arro yo? We ha ve C RC g ra n d p ri x races sched u led here th rough the yea r. We ha ve o ne race in eac h o ne o f the CRC seri es. Sa me wa y with NMA . Wh en ever th ey ha ve a series they h a ve o ne o f th eir races her e. C R C is goi ng to ha ve a five or six race series of sta di um races inside parks lik e Indian Dunes, Saddleback, and Arrovo will be included in that. An actiJa l stadium race on a stadium-type tra ck in regu lar pa rks. Even a Malcolm Smith Series is schedu led, which will be in March or April, and that will be put on by IRA. • T ak in g a tour around Arroyo brought back many memories because the park hadn't changed a bi t. The dirt was still excellent, and improvements have been made in the way of fencing, sta rting gate, and the pits. W hat about the track? National caliber! lt is still o ne of the finest parks in southern California. Wh il e / was the re two of Yamaha's f inest , Bo b Han nah and Jeff H ick s, were on hand and th eir im p ressio ns of A rroyo coincide d with m in e. " A rroyo is on e fine track ," said Hannah, addin g , " I would like to see a Nationa l here. Th e di rt is just right." A rroyo is no t only a g reat track , b ut it's wide en o ug h , lon g enough, and it offers good spectating , and spectators are just as important as the riders. / f th ere are an y promoters w h o w ou ld lik e to ge t in to uch with M eNea l, he can be reach ed at 714/887-/ 567, o r 714/689-6/14. C\J 00 - Q') • Sures and Touri ng J ackrt s . Su prrb cra ftsmanship of sa me 100'l; latha as ou r f ull suits. Spmal lntrod uetory Price 8'99.50 + C.O . D.&: Shi p p ing. • Im pon r d Mot ocrou Boot s wi th rreaded o r smooth sola aized 6 - t2 894.95, Sins I - 5 $64.30. • Road Ra ce. Slrttt. o r Tou ri ng Boo ts· Red or Bla ck wi.h Double Padded Shift Lever Ana 869.60. CALL TOLL FREE (except Tex~~"0().531.5330 In Texas 1-512·7 194 PRO STAR OF TEXAS, INC ., 4519 FREDRICKSBURG RD. 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