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/128643
"His denial of liberal media bias proves that he did not even follow the pre- or post-election covera ge." l a nd Use C oncerns about publi c l a n d us e expressed in letters and ed itoria l are w ell f o unded . Howe ve r , m otorcycl e and o th er off-r o ad v ehicle excl us ion wh ich has taken place o v er the last 40 y e a r s has h app en ed and b ee n all o wed t o st an d r eg a rdl ess of w ha t admin istrat i on h a s bee n i n p owe r. Hen c e we need to be p erman en tl y on gua rd . Th e latest propos al s b y g ov ernment are more deadl y than an y thing previously attempted and are wrapped up in verbiage that smacks of politica l c hi c an ery . Publi c opinion must be aro used and relentless lobbyi ng is necessary to halt these ty pes o f attacks. Th e AMA , w ith 270 ,000 m em ber s, is clea rl y th e m aj or pl ay er in any effort to ro ll back these encroac h men ts . W e must presen t a co m mon fron t. The AMA has already recognized this and is p ulli ng tog eth er th e m an y ini t iati ves tha t are out t here to form a co alition aga inst federal and state trampling. The federal an d state land s bel on g to all of the people no t just som e of the people. Ther e is room for all of us to share and use the land to recreate ourselves. Bu t , in o rde r to share, we must be respon sib le. I am st anding as a ca nd ida te for a seat on the AMA Bo ard for t he Nort h Centra l Reg io n . If y o u are a n AMA m ember and li ve in th e North Central Region , I wou ld ap p recia te your vo te. I will p ush hard to defend m otor cy cl in g against unfai r gov ern m ent and to foc us the AMA's ap proach to these problems. Jetr Smith Via the Internet Sm ith is the former executive d irector of A HRMA and the 1964-1965 500cc World Motocross Champion ... Ed itor In Defense Of Blue Ribbon I u sua lly ig nore the b abblin g s of t he ill info r med . Howeve r , after re ading Ran d y Warren's caustic Guest Ed it or ial (Issue #47 , Novem be r 29 ) , lowe a re spo n s e t o the readers of Cycle News. In a fail ed attem pt to be clever, War· ren reall y exposes his la ck of po lit ical prowess and understandin g of the current land -u se debate. His denial of li b eral m edia bi as pr oves that he did not eve n fo llow t he p re - or p o st -election co ve rage. Has he not read w here m o st ma in strea m new s outlets are doing a lot o f soul-sea rc h ing right no w because they blew it so bad on elec t ion n ight ? Even many political talkin g heads are qu esti onin g t he ov ert a n d co ve rt li b era l m ed ia bi as th at ex ist s in th e ge ne ra l bro adcast and p rin t m edia. Warren go es on to furt her unveil hi s ign o ran c e of the Blu e Ribbon Coa l i tion's (BRC) effort to bu ild the larg est m ultipl e -u s e o r i e nted r e cr ea t i o n umb r ella g ro u p i n t h e co u nt ry. Th e BRC is r e c o gn ized b y t h e n a t i o n a l m edi a and land age ncies as th e legi ti ma t e repre sentati v e fo r o ff- hig h w a y recreation. O u r C o aliti o n i n cl u d e s m em b er s f ro m th e B ackco untry Horsem en , pri vate ca b in ow ners in th e Sierra Nevada, t he D em o cra t i c /Republi can / Natu ral Law parties , tourism industry , dirt -bi kers,4 WD user s, sp ort and commerci al f ish ermen , o ff -ro ad le ge n ds lik e Ma l co lm Smith and Chris Carter , m ounta in bikers, Forest Servic e and Bureau o f Land Management ranger s, sno wrnobi l ers, resource ecolo gists , wildlife biol o gists , A Tvers, ranch ers, hunter s, scho o l teach ers, NASA and Bo ein g scie ntists, health care pr ofession al s, and t he li st go es on. If W arren to o k t im e t o review the nat ion al m ap of ho w cou nt ies vo te d, he would have found th at over 75 -p ercen t of th is nat ion' s geo graphic bas e vot ed for th e presiden t ia l candi dat e m ost like ly to support respon sib le. multiple -use of public lands. Warren's lack of politi cal sophisti cation is also reveal ed wh en he failed t o no ti c e t h at m os t n etwor k commentat or s referred to the " h unt er vo te " o r the "cou ntry mus ic v ote" as being a d ec iding fac tor in this year's elect ion. His la c k o f pre -articl e research is furthe r ex p o sed wh en he im p li es th e BRC sup po rts "an abs olute right to rid e an yw he re any ind iv id ua l c hooses ." If h e h ad t aken t h e tim e t o d ownl o a d BRC board poli ci es he wou ld see tha t we s uppo r t m a n a g e d rec reatio n , red uce d so u n d l ev el s , an d O HV u se confined, wh ere approp ri ate, to ex ist in g ro ads and traiis. Warren then tri es to adv ise the BRC on how it can do a bett er j ob . Wh ile I am always inte re sted in h eari n g from folks who have suggestions on ho w we ca n best represent mu lti ple -use recre at io n, m y dad to ld me many yea rs ago to never take advice from the foolish . The se lf-deprecating o ff -ro ad ico n, Tom Webb, used to write about mung and spooge... foul substances that are em i tt e d from m otorc y c les . I 'll c a ll Webb and ask him to please incl ud e Warren 's editorial as another example of an un p leasant subs ta nce . Don Amador Via the Internet Amador is th e Western Rep resen tati ve of th e Blu e Ribbon Coalition ... Ed itor Another View T h an k s fo r r u n n i n g t he edi to ria l b y Rand y Warren . I d on 't k now wh o h e is , but h e su re m ak es a lot o f good se n se to m e, and he is a re fr eshin g c ha n ge from th e sh ri ll harpin g o f th e m an y letters ap pea ri ng of late in th e "Vo ices" sect io n . The an g er and fru str at io n depicted b y those l e tt e r s appears to be ak in t o " r o a d rag e , " where otherw ise sane peopl e ju st see m to " g o off" in a fi t of momentary in sanity. It is m y desire that newspaper ed itors wouldn't see fit to print such letters, but t he Atlan ta Consti t ut io n, and p erhaps Cycle News, m ust be enj oying inc reased sa les o r th ey m ight not deem it g ood publ ic se rv ice to gi v e a p latform that allows for th e promotion of th e unthink in g venom co ntained in those types of lett ers. Let 's leave th e venom to th e professional wrestlers/actors. Birney M ontcalm Douglasville SA The Adelanto Grand Prix I w ou ld like to address the present confu sion and rumors circulating the So ut he rn Ca lifornia o ff-h ig h way rac in g c o m m u n it y w ith re ga r d to th e an n ua l Adelanto Gran d Pri x motorcy cl e ra ce. T his ra ce will be held in 200 1! Th e Desert Vipers Motorcycl e Club ha s held th is famous rac e for 19 years in a row . It has grow n to be the largest off -hiqh way race in th e na tion, and is norma lly held on th e fi rst weekend in February. Next year' s event is sc heduled for Feb ru ary 3 -4 . Th e race was als o an AMA D istrict 3 7 -point- p ay ing ra ce and part of the Bi g 6 Grand Prix Seri es. Because of dec isi on s m ade by the management o f the AMA District 37 requiring that, begi nn ing in 20 0 1, all rid ers must join Di str i c t 37 in o r de r t o race a t a ny races, t he Desert Vip ers have decided to wi th draw th is ra ce fro m t he Dist rict ca len d ar. I woul d like to ex p lain w hy we made t his decision, and what th e ram ifica tio ns will be . O u r m ain re a sonin g was th e fa c t t hat o ver t he last severa l yea rs, ab out 75 percen t o f the riders , or abo ut 1500 entries, rac e Ad elan to as non -Dist rict , o r pie- p lat e rid ers. We norma ll y hav e an add itional 5 0 0 entrie s th at are Distr ict riders . We were i n f o r m e d just before last February ' s race tha t District was seriously considering cha nging the rule s t o requi re mandato ry D i st r i ct membership, thereby ad ding anothe r $ 20 to $30 to each rider's costs at sign ups. We conducted an o nline poll on our website whe n po sti ng the results to ou r last race and de termined we wou ld lose 40 perce nt o f th e no n - Distr ict rid ers if we inc reased the fee and forced them to j oin. We also de te rmined th at we wo uld lose one-fourth of the D ist rict riders if we took th is race non -District . In other words , we we re presen ted with a fairl y good sam p le poll t hat we wo uld lo se 6 0 0 rid ers if we enfo rced the ma n da to ry Di st rict ru l e, o r lo se o n ly 125 if we we nt n on -D istrict with t h is race. As a cl ub, we vot ed un anim ously to c hoose the second o pt io n. Unfortu n at el y , w e h a v e n ot r e c e iv ed A M A sanc tion ing in a tim ely manner and w ill not req uire AMA m ember sh ip in 200 1 (we usually sign up ov er than 500 AMA m ember s every y ear ). Wh at th is m eans 'is the race will go o n. W e will hav e alm ost a s many e ye I .. n entrie s, the overall fees will be lower, all of th e maj or fa ctories and th eir ri d ers w ill be there, all of our m aj or sponsors will be the re, and we will still hold the b e st o ff - h ig h w ay r ace in t he US. B e cause we are rent ing add itional water tru cks and security for ces for the week end , we have decided to ra ise the entry fees $5 per race. This extra co st will easily be offset by saving th e ra cers from the mandatory District fee ($ 20 $3 0 ) and from hav ing to jo in the AMA ($ 3 9 ). We had hoped to work with District 37 t o wo rk ou t a m ut ua ll y ag reeabl e solution, bu t we were m et with a harsh and un yi elding attitude. We understand t h e Di st r i ct 37 ma n ag em ent is c o n ce rne d abo ut decl in ing partic ip ation in th e desert rac es and th at t hey wa nte d to fo rce in c reased mem be rship in th e D istr ict by th ese m and at or y participa ti on rul es. However , we felt there were othe r solutions th at were nev er consid ered as o pposed to hurting the Ad elan to Grand Pri x so bad ly . A s sta ted pr evi o u s l y, w e n o rm a ll y att rac t 1500 non- D istrict en tries. We fel t it w asn ' t fair to pass this mandatory fee on to o ur c ustomers who are co m ing out to one bi g eve nt pe r year. Peop le co me from all over the world to race this one race and h av e no intention of rac in g the entire calendar of D istrict events . Why should we force them to j oin Dis trict 37 that has a management team with a hi story of bein g unr espon sive to their wis hes and needs? We also thi nk it is pit ifu l tha t Dist rict 37 has chosen to h old a c om pet in g ra c e j us t d o wn th e h ig h w ay on t he sam e days w it h t h e same cl asses at the same t im es. Th ey are either do ing th is out of spite or to try to fo rce us to fai l. Wh en will the off- hig hway co m m unity sta rt wo rk i n g toge t he r? W e ha v e othe r joint enemies suc h as the Si erra C l u b and t he Center for B io diver sit y th at we sh ould be fi gh tin g , in stead o f each other. Larry Engwall Via the Internet Eng w all is the Desert Vipers Motorcycle Club 's legislative office r... Editor II! _ S • D EC EM B ER 13, 2000 5