Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·· :·RDaveyE · A CRX C oombs .By r If couple of generations of offroa d racers lost a worthy ad versary when the Blackwa ter 100 in Davis, West Virginia passed int o history a few weeks back. The Blackw ater 100 was the measuring stick that all other off-road races were ju dged by. He ld ~ v e ry Fa th e r's Day Weekend s ince 1975, it w as on e o f the best events that ever happened to our sport. The race had community involvement, great industry interest and was positive representation of our sport. When a rider said he finished the Blackwater 100, he was saying something about him himself. The Blackwater 100 was also one the best things that ever happened to a small, out-ofthe-way community in the economically troubled state of West Virginia. So what happened to the Blackwater a 1oo? To understand why this race ended, one needs to understand how it started. Back in the ea rly 1970s, th ere was a dirt-bike boom that had motorcycle racing on every thing from lunch boxes to Wid e World of Sports, muc h lik e the popularity mounta in bikers are experien cing today . An yway, a preacher from Davis rode dirt bikes, often in the woods of ne arby Canaan Valley and alo ng the banks of the Blackwater River. He soon form ed th e notion that having a motorcycle race ou tside of tow n wo uld be a fun sum mertime event for his stru ggling community, which was once a boomin g timber a nd m in in g town. Th e p reacher we nt to a motocross race at old Ap palachia Lake Park and found my da d - Dave Coombs Sr. - putting up so me fencing. The preacher talked about all the land that Canaan Valley h ad to offer and in vit ed dad to go take a look. When he saw the lit tle town and the surrounding a rea, h e im m e d ia tely th o u ght o f th e mov ie "On Any Sund ay" and th e footage of the now -defunct Elsino re Gran d Prix in California. A short time therea fter, the Blackwater 100 was borne into his mind . With the help of the preacher , a wo m a n na me d Anita Ba rton of the Alpine Festival visitors' burea u, and a comm uni ty tha t was willing to take a chance, the race became a rea lity. The townspeople opened their arms to the riders, even stopping th e tr affic to allow the race to traver se the streets of Davis. For the next 19 years, my famil y spe nt eve ry Father's Day weekend in that litt le town, usually following dad around the valley on motorcycles. We we re armed with staple guns, course arrows and mache tes as we laid out and patrolled the course, but to my dad it was still jus t on e big Dad 's day trailride. . The race itself grew like a wild flower. With the help of journalist Rick "Super Hunky" Siernan, the event became a national dirt-bike treasure. Obstacles like Moon Rocks, the Downhill, Route 93 and the Mud Fleas all came into the lexicon of American off-road. By the mid 1980s, the Black. water 100 was the biggest outdoor motorcycle event in the country, unofficially out-drawing every pro motocross national or roa racing event going. They sold countless Blackwater 100 T-shirts and videotapes; there w as even a Blackwater 100 p in ball mach ine! By th e community's own estimates, the race brough t $3 millio n into Davis eve n though there was no ad mis sion charged to spectators. Th e hotels were fu ll, rest au ran ts packed and everyon e enjoyed the prosperity th e race b rou ght to tow n - or so it see med. . Canaa n Va lley is a pri vatel y owned bu t, until recen tly, open-tothe-p ublic p layground. As th e ra ce grew in popularity, the ar ea soon gar nered a reputation as a gr eat play-riding place and four-wheel-d rive recreation area . Peop le visited the valley e very w eek en d with their tru cks, quads an d motorcycles. For the most part, th ey were non-racers - real ra cers spend the ir weekends at the track. And wh ile the racers follow ed a trail th at was d esi gn ed to cause m inimal im p a ct on th e rivers and soil, th e weekend w arri ors wen t w he reve r their burned- ou t headligh ts led them. Thi ngs sta rted going d ow n h ill fro m there. Canaan Valley has always bee n an environme ntal battlefield. The ow n- ers - Mon Power Co m p a ny - ha ve long wa nted to tum it into a big lake with a profitable hy d ro-electric plant. Th e U.S. government's fore stry people and local ceo-types want to tum it into a wild life refuge because there are "we tlands" ou t the re in the va lley. The people of Davis seem to sway ba ck and forth on w ha t they wan t. For the last five yea rs, the fate of the race twisted in the balance. Wh en the preacher moved o n a nd Anita Barton passed away, the race lost its closest allies. Th en ' th e environmentalists took aim. The y wanted to stop th e damage that was being done to their sacred gr ound by constant offroad vehicle traffic and felt that stop' ping th e high-profile race would be the best way to get everyone out of th e v all ey for the re st of the year. Th ey used every anti-usage tactic, including aerial photography taken in places w here the race didn't .even go. They a lso intro d uced the migrating Cana dian Snipe as the animal causecelebre. But for years none of the antiBlackwater 100 r he to ri c tha t they th r ew ou t eve r stuck - a t least n ot until this spring. The most r ecent attack was a bogus wa ter quali ty stu dy d one b y the U.S. Department of th e Inter ior. Nine mo nths after the study was conducted (at last year's race) they came ou t with the news tha t the large num ber of wee kend campers were damaging the rive r by ra ising the "fecal coliform ba cteria" rat e. I say th e study was bog us because the rate increase was not even to a level as high as th at which a no rmal rainfall produces. But th e damage was done. The po wer . company had had eno ugh. Rath er than continue fighting wi th government agencies like the Department of Natural Resou rces, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Environmental Protection Agency over a race that they didn't make a d im e off of, they g av e up . Ca naan Va lley w a s s h u t down to all mo torcycles, quad cycles and all other unauthorized vehi cles. They do n't even wa nt mountain bikes out there now. It was time for the comm unity of Davis to step up and voice its displea- su r e wi th the decision to stop the Blackwater 100. It is a well-known fact that the local economy is d riven by snow in the winter an d th e off-readers in the su mmer. But when it came tim e to be hea rd they balked . The en vironmentalists have th em believi ng that a we tland s and wi ldlife refuge will somehow bring in even mo re mon ey. The iron ic thing is th a t suc h a refuge is not go ing to happen until they buy out Mon Power and the rest of the businessmen who own tracts of property in Canaan Valley, a purchase that Mon Power says will never take place. They still want to put in the lake. But no one seems to understand this concept or the impact of the race. In fact, at one recent meeting two Davis area people, claiming to be professional realtors with an interest in rental properties, said their business actually decreased when the racers and fans cam e to town. I can't imagine them ha ving an y real growth this Father's Da y weekend w h en 40,000 people don' t come to tha t town of just a couple thousand . My d ad fli rted briefl y with the idea of movin g the race jus t ou tsi de o f tow n to ano ther tract of p rivate p rop erty, but gave up on that plan wh en it beca me apparent the race jus t wo uldn't be th e sam e: no rive r crossings, no Moon Rocks, no Mu d Fleas . He said that would be like going back to Woo dst ock only to find tha t John De n v er wa s th e fea tu red act. Th e Bla ck w ater 100, as we k now it, is over. O n th e weeken d of Ju n e 18-1 9, 1994, the stores, resta urants, service s tations and ho tels of Davis, West Virgi ni a will be emp ty. Canaan Valley will also be empty, excep t for the few fans who d on ' t know tha t the race was canc elled . As for m y dad, h e w ill be doing the same thi ng that he 's alw ays do ne on Fa th er's Day Weekend, onl y this time he 'll b e doing it on the other side of West Virginia in a little town called Elizabeth. The townspeople say the y might even stop the traffic for the racers. 1..' I:·._ Lobi

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