Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126795
Judge dismisses suit against Barstow-to-Vegas race BYP4IP4I Wf4lLfY This 1950 BSA with a B31 engine fitted in a B34 frame recently sold at a Phillips of London (England) auction for about $770. The bike is finished in black and silver with red pinstriping; the fenders are polished aluminum. Scott - collecting over $1 00,000 each. This year's $175,000 payo££ included $35,000 split among the top 10 in the points at the halfway point in the season ~ith $115,000 to the lOp 15 in the final points standings. An additional $25,000 was split among the top five road racers in the Formula One standings. Fake or not7 That's the question 'brought to rylind by this blackand-white reproduction of Dirt Rider magazine's December issue cover photo. The. way Dirt Rider tells it, this is a shot of Danny "Magoo" Chandler getting radical for a Dirt Rider photographer. But that Honda looks awfully clean, and the scene looks to us like the inside of the Petersen Publishing photo studio, with a little airbrush work... .. ... MONEY: AMA Grand National Champion Ricky Graham's share of this year's Camel Pro Series point fund totals $35,000 and, added lO his past point fund cash, that adds up to $109,600 he has collected from the R.j. Reynolds Tobacco Company. During the company's II-year involvement as the Camel (WinslOn) Pro Series, 51 riders have shared in $1,215,000 with four - Jay Springsteen, Randy GoIs. Graham and Gary "There are definitely going to be cutbacks in most of our racing programs, but at this point I can't . be more specific than that." said . Honda's Gary Mathers when questioned about rumors indicating Honda's dirt track, road racing and MX programs would all feel the axe. Amo'ng thosa rumo.red to be on the way out are road racer Mike Baldwin and MXer Danny Chandler. both have contracts up for renewal. Dirt tracker Doug Chandler and his tuner Jerry Griffith have also been the subject of rumors that they will no longer be a factory-backed effort in 1986. Team Husqvarna's Terry Cunningham, the 1984 National Enduro Champion, underwent surgery to remove a steel plate from his right leg on October 31. Cunningham sustained a broken femur in Wales just prior to the 1983 ISDE held there. Frenchman Gilles Lalay, riding a water-cooled 1985 KTM 600. won the three-day 1.136.36-mile Rally of Tunisia. October 26-28. Starting November 17, DeAnza Cycle Park, in Sunnymead, California, will have Saturday motocross. To kick off the Saturday MX. Malcolm Smith LOS ANGELES. CA. OCT. 11 A major victory for off-road riders came when Federal District Judge A. Wallace Tashima ruled against the Sierra Club's challenge of the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) 1983 decision to designate a race course from Barstow, California. to Las Vegas. Neveda. the American Motorcyclist Association reports. The judge also ordered the Sierra Club and three other organizations which brought the 1983 lawsuit to reimburse the BLM and AMA District-37 (southern California) their costs for defending the suit. Tashlma's decision was issued little more than-three weeks before the scheduled running of the 1984 Barstow-to-Vegas desert race. The Sierra Club is expected to appeal the ruling, although a similar last-minute appeal last year failed to halt the revival of the classic cross-country race. The preservationists' lawsuit was filed in mid-1983. challenging the legality of a BLM amendment to the California Desert Conservation Area management plan designating a race corridor. c~allenging the Nevada portion of the race course and requesting an injunction to halt the Thanksgiving weekend race. Tashima. after touring the pro" posed 1983 race course, denied the request for an injunction and dismissed the challenge to the Nevada corridor. The ruling, and the subseque':!t denial of a last-minute Sierra Club 8.ppeal, cleared the way for the 1983 "B-to-V" race, the first since 1974. The judge, however. also put off a decision on the Barstow-to~ Vegas desert plan amendment, and it was September 1984 before this issue came to trial. In his October 31 decision. Tashima considered six arguments raised by the Sierra Club, ranging from the BLM's decision to permit a small portion of the race course to cut through an area being considered for wilderness designation, to a charge that the agency's decision allowing the race was "an abuse of discretion." On each of the points, the judge decided strongly in fevor of the BLM and District-37, the race promoter. In a somewhat controversial move, the judge permitted evidence from the 1983 race to be used in deciding the case, but he observed that tbe Sierra Club's witnesses "greatly exaggerated the magnitude of the impacts" of the 1,000 motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles that ran the 1983 race. "In view of the fact that some damage will inevitably occur as a result of an ORV race, it appears that the mitigation measures (taken by the BLM and 0-37) were relatively effective." Tashima said in his decision. The Barstow-to-Vegas race ran from 1967 to 1974, attracting up to 3.000 competitors. But beginning in 1975. the 'BLM refused to issue a permit for the race due to environmental and organizational problems, In the meantime. B-to-V became an annual protest trail ride led by Louis McKey, the "Phantom Duck of the Desert." Motorcyclists and the BLM overcame their problems in 1983 - including the Sierra Club suit - and B-to-V was revived. The 1984 race is scheduled for November 24. Products will be giving away contin- . . gency prizes, plus there will be 100% payback for the Pros. No membership required. For more information call 714/924-5859, or 653-7979 (race day). . CMC will host the 10th Annual Four-stroke Motocross Nationals and the 1984 United States Women's Motocross Championship at Carlsbad Raceway in Carlsbad, California on December 9. The dual event is sponsored by Trick Racing Gasoline and Pro-Tec Products; more information is available by calling 714/2616116. The day after winning the Super.bowl of Motocross, Je££ Ward and all of Kawasaki's MX mechanics - riding asa team - won the 42-rriile United Cerebral Palsy Calimesa Canyon bicycle race in Calimesa, California. Spectating at the Superbowl of Motocross was former 600cc MX World Champion Brad Lackey. Brad says that he's been working on saveral project. lately, as wall a. spending whatever off-tima he getI at his rench In northern california. CMC President Stu Peters and members of his staff were in force at the Superbowl of Motocross. asking (ani to sign "Save Saddleback" petitions. According lO Peters, the· petitions will be presented to the Irvine Company as evidence of support for Saddleback's re-opening. Also, says Peters, the State of California is willing to underwrite insurance coverage on Saddleback if and when it resumes operation. Stay tuned for more details as they develop.. It was announced at the Superbowl of Motocross that next year there will be a five-race World Supercross Seri.s; four of those races will be held in Europe; the final race will be hosted in California at the Los Angeles Memorial .coliseum some time in November. Reuben McMurter debuted a machine he purchased from Team Honda after the Mid-Ohio National in the Superbike final at Daytona. The chassis had been used by Doug Chandler in his three Formula One rides while the engine was from Honda's Superbike stock. McMurter is basing his 1985 program around the bike and additional equipment he plans to obtain befor.e the Daytona 200. McMurter's day at Daytona ended with a DNF due to transmission problems. Superbib Chlimpion Fred Merkel -.ylle • 'e' __ in 1......