Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

f!romoters' war (Con tinued from page 4) - I'SXI , SRO/Pace and MTEG have been in and om of Cal ifornia co ur trooms for months, mu ch to the dis may of th e AMA, jockyi ng for P9sition in th e battle for control of Ame rica n supercross. . Goodwin's previous promotion co mpany (SMC) filed bankruptcy las t year, th en reorganized as a new com pany - SXI - wh ich bought SMC's assets during a court hearing on December 12, 1986, in cluding th e right to promo te AMA-sanctioned su percross races in sou the rn California. MTEG a nd SRO/Pace made bids on SMC 's assets d uri ng the hearing, bu t were outgunned by GOodwin, wh o was backed by th e assets o f a so u thern Californ ia businessman. ' Bu t it was Thompson who outgunned Goodwin in the battle for control of the so uthern California marketp lace. Thompson received an exclusive contract from the Anaheim City Council to conduct motorsports events in Anaheim Stadium, a nd MTEG may be clo se to finalizing a si mi lar agreement with th e Los Angel es Coliseum Commissi on , although SXI al so is speaking with th e commission. This legal manuevering has been a thorn in the sid e of the AMA for months , and AMA President Y o u n ~ b l o o d warned toda y that bickenng among su percross promoters must cease o r th e very future of the sport will be threatened. " In the past year, tremendous time, effort and money has been spent by several parties, including the AMA, as a direct result of ongoing legal battles among promoters of supercross racing events," Youngblood said. "The situation has become so threatening that I feel compelled to comment. " Blame is not the issu e," Youngblood said. "The issue is the survival of a great sport. "Despite our best efforts to initiate negotiated settlements -of the current disputes, the war rages on," said Youngblood. "The AMA deplores the long-standing lega l battles that rage on among parties which are apparently willing to risk anything and everything for the hope of satisfaction. In recent months the AMA has tried on several occasions to bring reason to the situation, to no avail. Our efforts continue, but time is running out. " Regrettab ly , we believe (th e Insport) agreement is now being used in a manner detrimental to the sport," said Youngblood. " Bli nd adherence to terms which now frustrate its purposes is perpetuating uncertainty among sponsors, teams, individual participants and the fans upon whom th e sport depends for its existence. " In short, it is being used not to nurture the sport, as was intended, but to cripple it ," Youngblood said. " Beca use of recent bankruptcy filings, there is grave doubt of SXI's ability to continue in the supercross promotion business," said Youngblood. "The AMA is ready and willing to work with SXI on legitimate promotions o f AMA-sanctioned events, but it would be tragic to see supercross sacrificed ' to any company's sin king fortunes because of th e Insport Agreement. "Earlier today,.I instructed legal co unsel to seek any and all appropriate actions wh ich might clear the wa y for th e J anuary 30 Anaheim Stadium su percross to be sanct ioned by th e AMA," said Youngblood. " It is our inte n tio n to do all that is humanly possible to maintain this traditional event without violating the pu r p ose o f the Insport agreement. , " We are doing everyth ing in our power in an effort to save the sport of su percross fro m further dam age," Youngblood said. " We imp lo re all other i nvolved parties to ado p t similar sta nces and to con sid er the needs of the sport we all profess to love." Folks fined for running Best of Desertinto California LONG BEACH, CA, DEC 2 Las Vegas , Nevada, ra ce promotor Ca sey Folks was fined $350 in a Barstow, California, court November 17 for routing 2.5 m iles of an approved Nevada desert race course across the border, into th e California Desert Conserva tio n Area (CDCA). . Fol ks, ap peari ng before U.S. Magistra te Kirtland L. Mahlum, reported ly pl eaded guilty to viola ti ng sti p ulatio ns of a Nevada Bureau of Land Management race perm it. H e was pl aced o n unsupervised probation for two years, du ring wh ich he wi ll be p ro hi bi ted from organizing any event in th e COCA. In addition, Folks and Bob Maichle of the motorcycle Ra cing Associa tion of Nevada, we re o rdered to rehabilita te th e COCA portion of th e race co urse, wh ich th ey ha ve do ne. The Nevada Bureau of Land Management ' a u th orized Folks to hold the U.S. Hare Scrambles Champi onship (the fin al round of Folk's three-race Best in th e Desert Seri es) near Laughlin, Nevada, September 27. The Bureau later cited Folks when California BLM officials learned that approximately 2.5 miles of th e course was routed, without authorization, onto public lands in California. The BLM said Folks also violated several other stipulations of his race permit, including: the painting of rocks along the course; failing to remove flagging within 15 days after the event; and disturbing the aesthetic quality of th e historic Mojave Road. An agreement between BLM and Friends of the Mojave Road allows ra ce co urses to cross the road, but not be run on it. According to the BLM , Folk's unauthorized section of th e course in the COCA went down th e Mojave Road for about half a mile. The brief routing of th e event onto the Cal ifornia side of th e border was an honest error, according to Folks. " It was a mistake," Folks said. " I thought I kn ew where th e sta te line was, a pparen tly I didn't. It was not done intentionally, It was an accident. I lived up to my responsibility and rehabilitated it." As for the Mojave Road, Fol ks said his race course crossed the hi storic road once, and that the crossing took place' o n th e Nevada side of the border. Under BLM su pervision, Folks and Mai che dragged th e Cal ifornia section of the course to era se motorcycle tracks and reseeded it with na ti ve plant species. T hey also rebuilt berms a long roads destro yed during the race , removed paint fro m rocks, hand ra ked part of th e ar ea a nd picked up remaining flaggi ng material. • Earth First! admits to B-to-Y tunnel sabotage , LONG BEACH, CA, DEC 2 A militant en vi ro n me n ta l group known as "Earth First! " claimed credit December 1 for blocking a drainage cu lvert' under In terstate 15 durin g th e N o vember 28 runni n g o f the Bar stow- to-Vega s Hare & H ound. Mik e Roselle, a spokesman for th e radical environme nta l orga nizatio n, ad mitted to th e Los Angeles T imes that h is group placed ra ilroad ties spi ked wi th nails in the dark, narrow culvert which was part of th e course. The blocked tunnel was di scovered abo u t an hour before th e start of th e rac e, and the event was delayed about 15 minutes whil e ra ce offi cials rem oved the obstruction. Roselle den ied that th e blockade ever presented a danger to racers. H e said Earth First! saboteurs knew offici als would in spect the course before starting th e event. He also claimed Earth First! highlighted th e entra nce to the tunnel with yello w "caution" tape. "We felt confident that the person in charge of monitoring that part of th e race. . .could see the tunnel had been blocked. As far as we're concerned, there ' was no attempt to injure anyo ne," Ros elle was quoted as sayi ng. Despite Roselle 's as surances , Ea rt h First! is known for militant ' activi ty that allegedly has caused injury and death. The organization's motto is, "No compromise in defense of Mother Earth." Earth Firstl has been charged with sp i ki ng trees with IO-inch steel spikes, which have caused ch ainsaws and bandsaws to explode during logging and sawmill operations. Three millworkers in California reportedly have died as a result of sp iked trees, and many in the logging industry allege it was Earth First! militants' who planted th e steel ob structions. In addi tion, Earth First! publishes, "The Guide to Monkeywrenching," a step -by-step how-to guide which ou tlines sabotage methods for destroying heavy equipment used on construction sites , and for disabling bandsaw s u sed in loggin~ mills. The Guide to Monkeywrenching also has a sec tio n on o ff-road riders. It reporte dly urges ra dica l enviro n me nta lis ts to stri ng wires across ridi ng tra ils, or to shall owly bury television tubes in trails so th ey explode when ridden over by off-road vehicles. T he Bureau of Land Management c urre nt ly is i nves ti ga ti n g t h e Barstow-to Vegas incident, and is looking into alleged Earth First! invol vemen t. Bringing charges agains t Earth First } will be difficul t, however , because th e group is ·no t a formal organizatio n - it is ma de u p of a loosely-knit cadre of environmental acti vists. The blockage of the tunnel violated seve ral la ws, accordi n g to Stephen Fleming, ch ief manager of th e BLM 's Barstow office, incl uding: interfering with an acti vi ty for wh1ch a BLM permit had been issued; creating a hazard or nuisance; and violating a California Vehicle Code section which says it is ill egal to erect a barricade th at cou ld endanger a motorcycle rider. " We're viewing th is as a serious occu rance,' said Fleming. " So mebody could have been hurt or killed. It is under 'in vestigation and we are going to follow up (o n Earth First! involvement)." According to Ro selle, Earth First! blocked th e tunn el to protes t a decis ion by the BLM allowing th e . race to clip a comer of the East Mojave Scenic Area , which has been nominated for Nat ional Park status under S7 (a bill introduced by U.S. Senator Alan Cranston (0California) which would close much of the desert to off-road riding). , " As far as we're co ncerned, 13minute dela y was a big victory for us ," Roselle reportedly said. " We' d like to stop this race forever , of course, but by being abl e to delay it at all, we did what we set out to do. We felt this was a legitimate way _ to delay th e race. We felt we did it in a sportsman -like manner. " AMAIDistrict 37 B-to- V race official Rick Hammel felt the Earth First ! action wa s a ny thi ng bu t sportsman-like. " If preriders had been having fun and going for it , as preriders sometimes do , we could have had a pileup inside the tunnel ," Hammel said. " We could have had major injuries or death. "The railroad ties were pr etty well wedged up in th ere," he said. " We found a p iece of plywood in th e tunnel that said , 'Earth F.' I don't remember (seeing any yellow cau tion ribbons), but I wouldn 't dispute it one way or the o ther. Some other people who were there said they didn 't see any yellow tape." Wh en asked if District 37 would pursue legal action, Hammel said, "There's no one to seek prosecu tion against. Ea rt h First! doesn 't have a formal mem bership. If the federal a uthori ties come up wi th a sus pect, the charge will be a felony so it will be p retty much om of our hands ." • a 15

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