Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

will be accepted .f ro rn July 1 through September 1. The event. scheduled for Saturday. November 29. is limited to 1200 riders; if more than 1200 entries are received. there will be a drawing held on September 8. with entries from AMA 0-37 cardholders drawn first. There will be no waiting ,list and no post entries. Entry forms are available by sending a legalsize. self-addressed. stamped envelope to B-to-V '86. P.O. Box 3560. Hesperia. CA 92345-0919; information is available from 213/ 438-6527. The Fifth Annua l Ha rlev Owners G ro u p Rall y wi ll be held Ma y 18 a t th e Devil' s Bo wl Speed way in Dall as. Texas; th e event is sponso red by the Dall as-Ft. Wo rt h Harley-Da vidson Deal ers Associ at io n a nd will featu re AMA P ro -Am ha lf-m ile dirt track raci ng, a swa p meet, field meet , li ve band a nd other ac ti vities. Gat es ope n a t 9:00 a.m . with racin g at 2:00 p.m. Motorcycle trailriding and ATV use are two of the topics for a two-day Bureau of Land Management desert recreation seminar scheduled for Riverside. California on April 11 and 12. Sessions are open to the public and will consist of 30-minute presentations made by various southern California groups; the seminar will be held at the Holiday Inn. 1200 University Avenue starting at 8 :30 a .m, on Friday. April 11 and 8:00 a.m. on Saturday. April 12. The seminar is a prelude to the President's Commission on Americans Outdoors public hearing to be held May 12. More informat ion is available from the BlM at 714/351 -6383. A new M-Star 250M X will be raffled off 10 ben efit inj ure d mo tocrosser Dan n y " Magoo" Ch andler. Ra ffle tic kets cost S1.00 eac h and will soo n I • be ava ila ble at M-Star dea lers nauonwide. Chandler will draw the win ning ticket on J u ne 15 at th e Magoo Invitation a l Wor ld Old-T im ers Cha m pionshi p, sched u led for the Pra irie City O H V Park near Sacramento, Ca li for ru a , The Greater Indianapolis Council on Alcoholism has scheduled an April 27 Poker Run to begin a t Dreyer Cycle. the oldest Honda dealer in t he U.S, . 4152 W. Wash ington S t .• Indianapolis. Indiana . Registration begins between 9 :00 and 10;00 a.rn . More info rmat ion is available f rom 3 17/542-7128. ifhe 198i Motocros s des Nation s will be held at Unadi lla, New York; th e September 13, 198i international team motocross race wi ll m ark th e event 's first tim e in the U.S. In add itio n , th e FIM has granted the U.S. two morocross Gra nds Prix, a 250cc GP to be held a t Ho ll ister Hills, California and a l25c c G P to he held at Steel City, Pen ns ylva n ia ; the FIM will not awarda 500cc G P to the co u nt ry hosting the Motocross des Natio ns. The U.S . Forest Service has ext e nd e d the review and comment period for the Proposed Tahoe National Forest Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement until June 2. Additional public hearings will be held from 2:005 :00 p .m, and from 6:30-8 :30 p .m. on April 12 in Truckee. California and on April 23 in Grass Valley. California . More information is ava ilable from 916/265-4531. Defend in g World Cha m pion Pekka (Ca g) won bo th mo tos o f the French G P , th e o pe ni ng round of the Worl d Ch a mpio nsh ip 125cc MX ~e h k o n en Series, Seco nd o vera ll in Cas telnaude-Levis, Fra nce, was Art o Pa ru illa (KT M), with Ism o Veh konen (Ho n), Pekka 's co us in, a nd M ika Ko uk i (Ya rn) tied for third overa ll. The California Bureau of land Management established a 90-day public comment and review period. beginning March 7. on a Draft Environmental Impact Statement covering proposed 1985 amendments to the Califomia Desert Plan. Comments must be received in the California Desert District office no later than Friday. June 6 . to be used in developing the Bureau's final Environmental Impact Statement. Copies of the draft EIS are -a va ila ble from the Bureau's California Desert District office.1695 Spruce St.• Riverside. CA 92507. 714 /351-6394. Wit h the r.l(m·d -o u t Ascot T'T resch ed uled for Fri day n ig h t, Ap ril 18, co m pe titors wi ll ha ve a IT do uble, head er weekend. An AMA Reg ional C ha mpi o nship 'T F will tak e pl a ce in Sa linas, Ca liforn ia , o n Su nda y, Ap ri l 20. A specia l feat u re o f that progr am will be th e R icky Gra ha m C ha lle nge, a race whic h will feature so me of the top riders in the na tion ta kin g o n the two -time G ra nd Nationa l C ha m p ion. The American Women Road Rid ers Alliance (AWRRAI will hold its Be Bop Bike Hop April 26 at Shakey's Pizza in North Hollywood. California. The dance will cost $15 a person or two for $25 . The AWRRA was started recently to give professional and business women who ride motorcycles the chance to meet with others at monthly meetings. on the rides and through the AWRRA professional women 's network. T he J ersevpi ne Cruisers Mo torcycle Touri ng C lub of Des Pl a ines, Ill ino is, wi ll spo nsor the Midn ig h t T our o f th e W in uy City on Ju ne 28 a t 6:00 p .m. I t wi II mark th e seventh year for the i O-m i le rid e. -The President's Commission on Americans Outdoors has scheduled public hearings in eight more c ities in the U.S . before June of th is year. rang ing from Boston to Anchorage. The Commission was appo inted by President Reagan to review national recreatio n programs. find out what Americans want to do outdoors. and to recommend pol icies to ensure the best recreationa l opportunities in the futu re. More inform a t io n is available from the Commissio n at 202 / 634-3179 . _ Quail Canyon GP track bulldozed By Farren Williams LONG BEACH , CA, APR . i A report from th e Continenta l Mor ospo r t C l u b th at Q u ail Ca nyo n's specia l use mo tocro ss faci li ty nea r G orman , Cali forn ia , has been closed . a nd the m o tocross track bulldozed o ut o f ex istence is in eno l'. accordi ng to Lee C ha uvet , depu ty d irecto r, O ff-H igh wa y Vehicles Division , Cal ifornia Depa rtment of Par ks and Recrea tion . C ha uve t ad rn ilied th at the existing mo tocross facilit y has been a ltered to el imi na te a n ex ten sio n th a t turned th e MX track into a G P co urse. a nd that CMC is no lon ger au thorized to promote events at Q ua il Canyon , He added th a t the rac ing organ izatio n has been for ced bv th e state to remove its eq u ip ment from the spe cia l use area . In a recen t new s release, CMC cla imed, " the sta te of Cal iforn ia ...has permanent ly closed an d secu red th e Qua il Ca nyon mot ocross/rnotosports area within Hungry Valley SVRA. CMC was co nt ac ted , . . o n March 3 L and di rected to remove a ll eq uip ment and race-rel at ed materia l from the Q ua il Can yon race site. On Thurs- , day, April 3, sta te eq uip ment was bul ldozing a nd elimi na ting the MX track from existence , No reasons were given by the stat e for the su dde n closure." Accord ing to Chauvet, however. " the facil ity is sti ll avai lable for competiti on even ts, bu t at this moment in ' tim e th ere a rc no ne. sched ule d. T he facili ty is the re and the origina l track is inta ct. " It has not been b u lld ozed down," sa id Cha u vet. "The p ro blem we had is o ne of the concess io na ires (CMC) , wi th o ut p roper a p proval, went in a nd co ns tr ucted a seco nd tra ck, wi the. o u t p ro per permission, a nd ra n th e two tracks, co ncu rren tly." Ch a uvet sai d he to ld CMC' s Stu Peters that th e raci ng o rga nization wo u ld no t be fin ed for buildin g th e MX track exte nsion wit hout a u thor izatio n if CMC wou ld kno ck do wn th e seco nd mot ocro ss faci lity a nd reseed the area . "As of last week, that had n 't been do ne," he said. Wh en as ked if stale eq uip ment had been opera ting a t Q uai l Ca nyo n on Apri l 3. C ha uvet sa id , " We were in there wi th eq uip men t, dis king a nd seedi ng, doi ng th e things Peters was ' su p po sed to have done. The major usc of eq u ip ment was to elimi nat e th e MX track extens io n and knock 'd o wn some ex tra h u m p s that had been p laced in the or ig ina l tra ck. We also knocked the edge off th e la rge jump in th e or igina l tra ck 10 red uce th e approach a ng le. My ma in thrust is tha t we keep on racing. T he facilit y is ava ilabl e." Peters to ld C ycle N euis he received verbal perm ission du ring a teleph o ne co n versa tio n wit h state o fficia ls 10 co ns truct rhe ex rens io n, but was la ter io l d by o ffic ia ls ar the track tha t perm issio n had no t been given . " Ltal ked wi th thein o n the ph one and to ld them wh a t I p lann ed 10 do ," Peters sa id , "They ga ve me a verba l goah ead th en never got back to me, so I we nt fori t. "T hev'vea bso lu telv a n nihila ted th e ' co urse ,': Peters claiml·d. "T hev seeded the pi ts a nd 15-18 fire rings in'the p its have been pu lled o u t. 'Last Monday, the superi n tendent of Q uail ca lled u p a nd said. ' We wo uld like yo u to get a ll your eq ui p me n t o u t of th ere.' I sent a n ew up T uesday afte rnoon, a nd pu lled st uff o ut , "L've never really galien a ny o fficia l reason wh y," said Peters. "The sta le of Ca li forn ia is havin g p rob lem s wi th lia bili ty, but th ere is su pposed to be room fo r ' co m pet it io n event s a t the parks. We were to ld we would be there unt il the su n burned o u t. We invested a lot o f tim e a nd mon ev in that track a nd we were th ere o n lv one w ar - from Ma rch to March ." . . Chauve t sa id liab ility was the reaso n the sta te took many o f th e ac tio ns that it did a t Q uail Can yon. " We made a decis io n to dose th e tra ck it self to casua l r id ing, " he sa id . " Inexperienced riders (fro m Hungr y Va lley O HV Pa rk) wou ld ge t o n it and get hun trying to ride beyond the ir abi li ties. T hey ca n stilI ride th rough Quail Ca nyon - th ere a re two main trail s (g o ing th ro ugh th e spec ia l use area ). But we have posted the track ." Chauvet ver ified that CMC was asked to leav e the Quai l Canyon faci lity. " It was a managem ent decisio n o n ma y pa n to as k th em to leave." Chauve t sa id. "T he y haven 't asked for a ny mor e (ra ce da tes); th ey have a few pe ndi ng obl iga tions . Bu t I'm a lways open to ren egoti a tion ." " We' ve got some terrifi c lia bil ity pro blems going o n o u t there," said Mike Bishop , a member o f the O ffH ighwa y Vehicle Recreat ion Commission . " We had problems wit h a promoter (CMC), and the ra ng ers to ld h im to get his st uff a nd ge t out. People were co rni ng in from the regul a r pa rk a nd using th e Gra nd Prix tra ck (co nstruc ted by CMC ). O n a track crea ted by humans th e property owner is liable. Cl\ IC is well in sured a t a ll events. but peopl e wou ld go in th ere whe n events weren 't happe nin g; th ey would go in a nd get hurt. " It was exposing us to too mu ch li abil it y," Bis hop said. " Q uai l Ca nyon is 'still designa ted a special events a rea. T he track has been bu lldozed dow n - thev took o u t a ll the ha zards. The bo tto m line is liab ili ty. " Pe ters co nte nds he ca lled Sacramen to a nd as ked perm ission to expa nd the MX tra ck to a GP track , and got pe rm issio n, " sa id Bish op. "T hey ca me do wn a nd sa id he co uld n ' t do it. . T hey to ld Pe ters to ge t it (the track ) sma ll agai n , a nd he d idn ' t do it. We do n' t wa nt o ne promoter ca using us to close the park down ." _ ,Liability threatens American recreation WASHINGTO N, D.C. , l\fAR . 24 T wo A mer ica n R ecrea t io n Coa litio n (ARC) representatives to ld a Congressiona l panel today th at th e liabil it y ins ura nce cr isis is th rea ten ing th e future of ou tdoor recrea tio n in America . Da vid J . Humph reys, Chairma n of ARC and Presiden t o f the Recrea tio n Vehicle Ind ustry Associ ati on, and Roy Mu th , Preside nt of th e Internatio nal Snowmobi le Ind ustrv Associati on and Cha irma n of AR C' s T as k For ce o n L iabilitv Concerns. testified before a heari ng' o f the Overs ight Su bco mmi ttee o f the Ho use Comm iu ee o n Wa ys a nd Means, cha ired by Representative J.J. P ickle (D-TX). " As a nation , we m us t come to grip s with th e trend towards excessin' litiga tio n a nd cla ims for co mpensa tion . regardless o f actua l fault." H u m p h reys to ld th e Su bcom mi nee. Beca use ma n v for ms of recrea tion aIT in herent ly riskv, he exp la ined, the recrea tio n industry is " especia lly in jeopardy in th e co urts tod ay." , " T he cri sis recreation is faci ng in a ttem pts to o bta in a ffordabl e liability ins ura nce coverage" promp ted AR C to fo rm a Task For ce a nd to undert ak e a study, Humph reys expl ained. The p roduct of ARC's study . a " white paper" ent itled: "T he Affects of th e In suran ce Crisis o n th e Recrea tion In du st rv.' was su bmi tted for th e hearin g recdrd. Muth cited speci fic exa mples from th i: study to ill us tra te how th e rising costs a nd decreasing avai la bility o f lia bility coverage have con tr ibu ted to " the cha os we see tod ay in the recreation com m u n ity. Pro viders of both goods and servic es fin d that their sa fety recor ds a nd claims hi story have litt le or no bea rin g on the ir ul ti mat e in suran ce sit ua tio n . Co ns u mers. in tu rn , are left with in creasi ng recrea tion costs a nd dimi nis hi ng recrealio n cho ices. T he re ar e no win ner s a nd losers here - on ly losers." Copies of the ARC testimony may be o bta ined by writing the ARC at 1015 Eve Street NW , Su iteiO Wash O, ington' nc, 20006. - 7

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