Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"Doug cranked that big Ka wi into a speed wheelie, and me rged into tra ffi c." The Vote I re ad Ran dy Warren's opinion (Guest Editorial, Issue #47, November 27 ) with considerable interest. I was surprised and a little disappointed to find it given center-stage in your publication . As one who spends her days, nights , and weekends attempting , like Adena Cook, to strengthen the mot orized rec reation network , I kn ow th ere a re moles among us . In my work for the snowmobile comm unity, I run into them often. As I att e m p t to knit the snowmobilers t o the c y c lis ts to th e Land Rovers , I can usually find a Randy Warren right behind me snip p ing the threads and gleefully unraveling the very framework of motorized rec rea tion 's essential support system. Randy asserts that the media isn 't libera l. (He llo? And he th inks Adena s uffers fro m recto -cranial di splace m ent? ) I work with them every day . I kno w better. Generally speaking , they are ben t left, an d bou nd to "s a ve the wo rld" whether it needs it or not. (Randy... I'd be intereste d in knowing what yo u th ink Yellows to ne needs to be pro te cted from ?!) Mem bers of the fourth esta te se e m to have forgott e n th at , as jo urna lists, their job is to report the news, not embellish it. That doesn 't make them evil. .. it only makes them dan gerous and worthy of the same sort of respect you'd afford a ra ttle sn a ke with a tooth a che. Yes, we need to be cautious about painting our polit ical environment with a broa d brush. Yes , we need to work across par ty lines. We must be informed . We must be aw are. Mos t importantly , we must not fall prey to the Randy Warrens of the wor ld who scurry about in the dark of night sowing the seeds of dissention when un ity is our on ly hope. Here are the facts . Unless and until we can be of one voice, we'll continue to lose ground to the extremists who want to lock us away from our public lands. We're at war, my friends , and so mebody needs to ra lly the troops . T he Blue Ribbo n Coalition does that better than an y other organization in the nation , and I'm proud to be among their warriors. VlkI B. Eggers West Yellowstone, MT The Vote II I comp lete ly a gree with Mr. Warren 's gu est editorial. I ha ve ridden both d irt and street bikes for over 30 years and I s u pp ort motor cycle access to p ublic la nd s . Howev e r, I am not incl ine d to support groups or individua ls that ins ist that, in o rde r to s upport a particular c ause, I m ust also support an overa ll p olitic a l agenda. Gra ss roots po litics are often the most effective a nd, in order to build wide support, one must bring togeth e r a large nu m ber of peo - pie with different politica l views. This can only be done by foc us ing on the job at hand. I suspe ct that I will now be viewed as a knee-jerk liberal. J ust to prove it although I am a su bscriber to Cy cle News, I seemed to have missed th e issue that ce lebrated the first national motorcyc le championship by a woman, Angelle Seeling, by devot ing the front cover to that historic event. ChIp ColWell Bryn Mawr; PA You will find an intervi ew w ith Seeling in this issue... Editor Doug Domokos I was shocked and saddened to log on to uiunu .cqcleneui s.com , and read a bout the death of Doug Domokos. I spent substantial time with Doug in the early 1980s, when I was an associate editor at Cy cle News East in Atla nta . Do u g cam e t h ro u g h town for the motocross nationals, and also gained pu b licity when he did stunt work in Atlanta for "Cannonball Run" starring Burt Reynolds . During that filming , we shot a cover with Doug at Road Atlan ta , where he whee lied th e Kawasaki KZI30 0 sixcylinder motor cycle. I can remember go ing for a short ride with Dou g tha t afternoon, and we were heading onto Inte rs ta te 85; Doug cranked that b ig Kawi into a speed whee lie , a nd merged into traffic. I'll never forget the look on th e ladies ' faces in the car n e xt to Doug! There ar e numerous other Domokos stories, too many to mention, that will now be folk lo re in the motorcycle industry. Doug was a lways full of life. at the center of attention , and a free spirit operating with his -own sty le and motivations . He will be missed by many . Tom M ueller Westervtlle, OH Pro Sierra Club~ Sorry, I couldn't let Mr. Stephen Curley 's Pro- Sierra Club letter go unan swered. He states he "quit the AMA... over th is issue." The issue being what, Mr. Curley? They told you who had p ro -mo to rc ycl e polic ies in p oli tic s? What' s wrong with that? I send mon ey to the AMA for that reason, to provide me inform atio n on issues I am a ffected b y a n d concerned with. I may not agree with them all the t ime, but they do far more good than bad, and ge tting people to vote would be co nsidered a good thing, by most. You say that the Blue Ribbon Coalition gets mos t of it's fundin g from oil, ga s, mining a nd timber industrie s. BRC de nie s this Sie rra Club ta lking point, and I perso nally h ave no t reviewed their ledgers o r tax retums . Have yo u? And so wha t if they were supported by these industries? These ind ustries also emp loy people who earn money to su ppo rt the ir fam ilies . What's wrong with that? You say that AI Gore won 't loc k up all the forests. Rea lly? His partner in crime has done a he ll of a good job in this area, "proclaiming" 325,000 acres to be a monument. Contrary to Sierra Club talking points, this means motorcy cles are proh ib ited from the 400 plus miles of trails in the Se quoia fore st, effective January I, 2001. By the way, Congress did not approve th is - it cost hundreds of families their jobs, and was ram-rodded down the throats of loca ls who , 10 to I, opposed it. Sorry, Mr. Curley, bu t in my opin ion , you have been outed. The next time the Sierra Club asks its members to write letters, plea se do a little more research before you volunteer. :Jack Patterson VisalIa" CA races, so if only 600 of them rode Adela n t o and o nl y half that n umber entered two classes, that adds up to 900 entries - not 500. The Big 6 GP Series will continue to prom ote s ix even ts in 200 I, inclu ding a n e vent on February 4- 5 at LA Coun ty Raceway . This is not be ing don e out of sp ite , but rather because the DVMC did not inform District 37 of their decision to drop ou t of the series until mid October, even though they knew of the re q ui red membersh ip d e c is ion s ince F ebru a ry . The first weeken d o f th e month is des ignated for GPs pe r d ist rict ru le s . DVMC has known this fac t fo r ye a rs a nd also knew th at the d istrict was c omm itted to p ut ting on a ra c e that weekend. As for costs, the $20 District m em bership fee (for those who joine d before Jan uary I, 2001) saves th e racer $5 off entry in Big 6 even ts . If you rode just one race at ea ch event that's a savings of $30. It also pays for a monthly newsletter, GP entry forms and, most importantly, it has informa tion about threats to our sport a nd what we need to do to combat them. As far as working together, the 35 District 37 clubs (with over 3 000 members) voted to require me mbers hip in an effort to keep off-road racing alive in Southern California and for the other reasons mentioned above . Th e vo te was nearly all -unanimous; on ly t he Desert Vipers decided not to go alo ng with the overwhelming m ajo rity. All member clubs of the Big 6 Se ries and District 37 are no n-profi t organiza tion s , run by unpaid vol un teers . The over 45 races p ut on b y Dist rict 37 membe r clubs a re don e for the love of the sport, not for the fina ncial return. I agree we need to work together, but m isreprese ntatio n of the issues ands p utting forth m islea ding facts is certainly not t he wa y to accom p lis h this . It ap pea rs the Desert Vipers fo rgot their roots . Doug Q agg Via the In~met Big 6 Response AMA District 37, its members and the Big 6 Grand Prix Serie s clubs would like to clear up some misinformation in la st wee k's Voices se ction. The Desert Vipe rs Motorcycle Club (DVMC), promoters of t he Ade la n to G P even t , chose to wit h draw from t h e Big 6 Series for th e ir ow n self-serving rea son s . T he Ade la nto ra c e h a d ma ny more serious p ro b le m s t ha n lo s ing some e ntries. DVMC, for thei r own rea sons, decided to withdraw from the Big 6 Series, dis regard AMA a nd District 37 rules , and race prog ra m st ructure (put there for safety reasons), and not have an AMA-sanctioned event. It is true that this yea r the Adelanto GP will not giv'e D-3 7 Big 6 GP Series points and Desert points, nor will it pay Kawasaki , Suzuk i, or Yamaha (plus others to be announced) manufacturers ' series contingency money. Discu ss ions of the requirement to be a D-37 member in order to compete for points has been debated for the past four or five years. District 37 is one of the last racing organizations to require membership in Southern California (AMA D-36 has had this requirement for many yea rs). Th ere are many good reasons to req uire membership, one of which 'is tha t it is sim ply not fair to the riders to a llow blatant sandbag ging and to deny the tro p hies to le g it im a t e ly classified racers. The lette r also state s "all riders must join District 37 in order to race at a ny ra ces..." This is not corre ct . You can ra ce in th e Uncla ssified race or a ny other race that does not pay District poi nts , a nd DVMC was well aware of that fact . I questio n the o nline poll and the formula and figures th at t he DVMC came up with for the number of riders who race a t Ade la nto. T here were approximately 800 racers signed up in the D-37 GP Division in FY 200 0 . Most of the d istrict ride rs ente r multiple cue I e Clagg is th e chairman o[ the Big 6 Series... Editor n e _ S • JANUARY 3 , 2 0 01 5

• Cover