Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The Latest Poop Saddleback re-opens, closes, may re-open (COl1tillllf'd from page 5) By Rex Reese ORANGE, CA, AUG. 24 Saddleback Park has closed its gates again, an action disclosed to Cycle News by California Racing Club (CRC) president Jack Barbacovi. This comes just three weeks after the park's re-opening on August 3 and marks yet another stormy chapter in Saddleback's history since Marvin Hendricks as- Douglas L. Hague of Austin, Texas. is the lucky winner of the Cycle News "Pick A Cagiva" contest. Here. he'sl)eing presented his WRX300 Enduro by Frans de Weers of Arlette Motorcycle Sales and Service of Cedar Park. Texas,the most active Cagiva dealer in the state. Good luck. Dougl Former 250cc World MXChampion, Danny Laporte and Goat Breker, third overall in the unal standing of the 500cc AMA ational Championship, MX Series will be heading to AustraJia for a bit of upercross. The two will join weden's Lief Niklason as the only overseas riders in the September 22 Liverpool Supercross. Contrary to trackside medical reports printed last week. Harry Klinzmann was unhurt in his September 19 Camel Pro Series F-1 race crash at Sears Point. National Motorsport Association's president Ron Henricksen confirmed that Kawasaki's Bobby Moore is the NMA Grand National Minicycle Champion, while Kawasaki rider Ed Warren is the Grand National Motorcycle Champion after the Ponca City NMA championships. Because of the most recent Saddleback Park closure. the California Racing Club has moved two motocross events originally scheduled there. CRC's September 9 race will now be held at DeAna Cycle Park near Riverside; their September 23 event will now be a grand prix at Corona Raceway. Also moving: Southern California will have back-to-back AMA/Camel Pro Series Nationals on the September 21-22 weekend. However, due to an ownership change there will be no race at the Los Alimitos horse track as originally scheduled. Instead, Ascot Park will host a TT on Friday night, September 21, and a half mile on Saturday night, September 22. Inland Motorcycle Speedway, hosts of the weekly Wednesdaynight speedway show at San Bernardino. California. have a couple of big nights coming up. August 29 is Fox Night (ladies admitted free); September 5 will feature a performance by the Wheelie King. Doug Domokos. The Bureau of Land Management has issued proposed vehicle routes for the California Desert public lands .·n San Bernardino County. The PtQ-,1 posed routes cover public lands north of Apply Valley, west of Barstow, south of Red Mountain and ea t of the Kern CountylLos Angeles County boundaries. The BLM' Bartow office will be ho ting an open hou e for public comment on eptember 14-15 atlhe Bar tow Way tation, 831 Barstow Rd., from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day. Maps of the routes are available by calling 619/ 256-3591, and public comment will be accepted until October 7,1984. California Governor George Deukmejian recently signed Senate Bill 1476 into law. The measure. introduced by Senator Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys). makes it a misdemeanor to tamper with DRV trail or race course markings, punishable by up to six months in jail and/ora .1 000 fine. Should such tampering result in an injury. the crime becomes a felony - with a maximum sentence of three years prison. The bill was inspired after the 1983 Barstow-to-Vegas hare 'n' hound, whoseflawl..s running was only marred by course sebotage. Sprocketts Park in Baker field, California, has cancelled its September I CMC motocross, citing electrical problems at the facility. Keep an eye on the Cycle News Calendar for notification of racing resumption. There was an error in the tabulation of the AMA 125cc National MX Championship point standings published last week. Southern California rider Doug Dubach should have been credited with 10th place in the standings. the result of garnering 150 points. The apparent Stock-class winner of the Battle of the Twins race at Sears Point was only that - the apparent winner. After the race he was protested for engine modifications, and while he refused to tear his machine down, AMA oHicials disqualified him for an illegal throttle and awarded the win to Yamaha rider Brent Ro s. Harley-Davidson rider Will Roeder, who lodged the protest, was advanced to second. . I. . I I «Contin&ed 10 pagl! n, I sumed its operation. When asked to confirm Barbacovi's statement, Hendricks acknowledged, adding, "the park is being closed this weekend to meet insurance requirements, but we will re-open on Tuesday (August 28)." Hendricks would flOt make any further comment on the matter. Just before presstime, Cycle News learned that the actual reason for Saddleback's latest closure is due to insufficient liability insurance coverage. Mr. Jerry Collins, a spokesman for the Irvine Company, stated that the exact amount of insurance at issue could not be disclosed. But Collins did issue the following tatement on behalf of the company: "The operator is required to have a certain amount of in urance coverage. The insurance he now has is less than the required coverage, so we have given him - as provided by the lease - 30 days in which to obtain adequate insurance. We hope he's successful. We have suggested in the interim that he close the facility, but that's up to him." It has been learned by Cycle News, however, that the amount of liability insurance that Saddleback is being req uired to carry is for $5 million per accident, versus $5 million per year when it re-opened. Saddleback Park's closure on July 20 was the first in its 16 year history. That closure was requested by the Irvine Company, the holding company which owns the land Saddleback sits on, after the park's liability insurance policy was cancelled. With the insurance cancellation and first park closure, some observers allege that Saddleback management and recent serious accidents caused the Irvine Company request. "We have a liability insurance policy for $5 million that we have to keep," stated Hendricks. "Our policy came up for renewal, and with a few of these problems that we had out here. every time you have an accident your premium goes up. "They (the company which insured Saddleback at the time) wanted to increase our premium five times': Hendricks a·dded. "We couldn't handle the increase, so we did not renew. We thought we could get the insurance renewed with somebody else at a lesser rate, (but) we found out that it took 30 days to do that. It took us 29 days to get a good insurance company to insure us, and the rate did go up." Hendricks did say at the time that he would make several safety-related park, policy and operational changes in the immediate future. The changes Hendricks cited included: -Establishment of separate tracks for Beginner/Novice and ExpertATV riders and operators, fenced off from the rest of the park. --'A~\" fi"tlers wiH be- required to 'I transport their bikes and equipment to their respective tracks or riding areas. Riding on access roads in the park will no longer be permitted. 1£ a rider on the International track wants to ride in the open trail area, explains Hendricks, they will have to re-load their equipment and transport it to the pits established for the trail area. -Pitting on Webco Hill, long a popular spot for riders who ride the International and "back" tracks, will not be allowed. Riders will have to pit in the International track pits, or the "back" track pits. -A volunteer patrol force will be established, consisting of "about 20 volunteer fathers" who will patrol the park on weekends. -Riders who violate park rules "will be escorted o££ the park and banned for 30 days," says Hendricks. "There will be no excuses." -Hendricks stated tbat "promoters at Saddleback will be more closely supervised, starting immediately. And there will be stronger rules enforcing parental upervision over their kids." Another safety-related measure, says Hendricks, is that the International track will be watered in the future by a system of sprinklers fed from a hilltop reservoir system. While Hendricks denied that the changes in park policy and operation are related to past accidents, he did admit that there had been "only one serious accident/' referring to the death of 10-year-old John Shaver at the park in June, the results of a collision with another rider. Hendricks stated that all promoters at Saddleback are "responsible for their own events and the control of tfie riders who enter them. "In specific, since the Shaver accident allegedly occurred during the running of a National Motorsports Association minicycle race on the "back" track at Saddleback, Hendricks alleges that NMA o££icials were responsible for the accident. In the future, Hendricks announced that he would be promoting "seven major events" at Saddleback, including three o££-road car/truck races, a major motocross, and a hiJIclimb for motorcycles and ATVs.· Also disclosed by the Saddleback operator is the establishment of a new o££-road "theme" park in the Temecula area. Hendricks stated that the park will cover 322 acres and will open in about six months. It will be setup for both night and day racing operations, he added. According to Irvine Company's Collins, the current operator's lease on Saddleback will expire in twoand-a-half years.. In a related incident, Cycle News has discovered that a group of promoters are proceeding to negotiate a new operating lease with the Irvine Company. The plan is to apparently present a program that is acceptable to Irvine o££icials then have the group take over Saddlel:iack as its new operator. No confirmation of this story at presstime is available from those involved. I 1 I I

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