Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

becn dow n th e tubes. YEP, IT'S BAC K ! LET'S SHOOT HA V E A TURK EY By Russ S anford Th e las t d ay for in tro d uc tion of n ew bills be fore ' th e 1972 Cali fornia Legislative Se ssion was Ma rch 15. For several da ys prior to that cu t-off date, the Sierra Club lobbyist was running up and dow n the Cap itol hallways in search of a legisla t o r to ' auth o r' o ne o f their legislative p ro posals. O ne legisla to r a fter ano ther , u p on revie wi ng the b ill p roposed by the Sierra Club, was h eard to say, "That's Z'berg's AB 3069 of last year! I w ouldn 't touch th a t turkey with a te n- Foo t pole". In case y ou aren't too good a t re me mbering numbers, AB 3069 was the 19 7 1 b ill by Asse m blyman Z'berg which would have appropriated 100,000 from the Off-Highway Ve hicle Fu n d for purposes of conduc ting a st udy to determine a reas where off-road vehicles cou ld not be opera ted. The b ill wen t o n to lis t 25 categories of a reas in w hic h off-road ve h icles coul d n ot be o perated. T he res u lt: n o ne of th e sta te lan d s wou ld remain availab le. Dirt-rid in g w ou ld h ave As (b ad ) luck wo u ld have it, th e S ierra Club lo bby ist ro un d a sponsor m Se na to r J am es R. Mills, President p ro Tem pore of t he Se na te. T h e ol d bill with the new n umber is S en at e Bill (S B) 5 68 . SHORT AN D SWEET Le c's kill this turke y before it eve n has a ch ance to get o ff the gr o u n d . Let's do it t he easy way : 1. Wri te a lette r to yu ur own Senator exp ress ing y our op posi tion t o SB 568 . A list of all Se nators was p rinted in the May 2, 19 72 issue of Cy cl e Ne ws. 2. Wri te a letter to each m ember of th e Se nate Na tural Resources & Wildlife Commit tee asking th em to vo te NO on SB 568. T he m ember s are : Senators John A. Nejedly (Chairman) , Robe rt J. Lagomarsino , Peter 11. Behr, De nnis E. Carpen te r, Ralph C . Dills, Arlen Gregorio, H.L . Richardson, J ames Q. Wedworth and George N . Ze novich. Las t year, you genera te d what has b ee n described as "the greatest delu ge of letters ever to h it the Capitol" over A B 3 069 and the bill w as kill ed . We ha ve to d o it again w ith SB 568 . Let 's prove once and fo r all tha t thi s type of an ti-mo to rcycle legislation shou ld n ever be in tr oduced ! --.rn scramliillj,1 nl' allr'lou :n(li . - \ 1 ~. - , . ~I • ~ f- . , - -, I ." ~ .- - =_ ,.- -J i By Mau reen Le e Well, it was quite a weekend a t We've got a wh ole bunch o f o dd s a n d As cot, wasn't it, with th e G old Cup ends that we've found in te res ti ng. G o od Series. and on e Nati onal out of the two old Channel Two was a t it agai n wi th n igh ts ? The racing was stupendous and Bob Simmons this time rep ortin g o n the we can' t re sist m ak ing a fe w com m e n ts California tortoi se, now they 're b eing of o ur own even th ough the "official" rounded up a n d pl aced on th e X aval write-up ap pe ared in las t week 's paper. Re serve at Chin a Lake to protect them Frid ay n ight the re were a coup le o f from motorized vehicles in th e desert. N ov ices wh o d eserved a smack in th e T he lady with h im h ap p ily holding one ch op s fo r th e di rt y pool t hey pl a y ed in li ttle beas tie sai d m o torcy cles w ere one the he ats. Twice we saw riders lTV to o f their wo rst e ne mies. 11 0 0 hah , I bet take anoth er o u t and it was n o accide n t . sa id lady w ould be very surprised to an d Novice s are n ' t ab le to d o suc h h ear h ow m any times riders st op righ t in things as su b tly as th e Experts d o whe n th e middle of a Hare a n d H o u nd an d th ey d o it. wh ich is rar e . T h e N ovic es res cu e a n o ffe n di n g t ortoi se wh 0 is were n o d oubt try in g to m ak e a good trying to ge t himsel f kill ed an d pu ts him impress ion fo r so meone ! in a safe spot. A II usk y rid er I know d id Danny Ha ckie was out-horsed d own tha t and dam n n e az; lost the race because hi s bi ke didn 't wan t to st a rt the stra igh t by Phil ~l cD on ald ' s Yam ah a bu t he'd ge t him b ac k in th e tu rn s wi th aga in a fte rw ard s, D on 't ge t me w rong. 1 tre mendous riding. p ro m pt ing n ne o f don't believe in killi ng anyt h ing un less it's afte r m e first. but once agai n it was the Yamah a fol ks next to me to ask , "Wh at ' s he rid in g?" "O ssa " we the m otorcycles wh o go t b lame d for do ing the main damage ! cho ru sed . Th e Jun iors also h ad th ei r In n ote s fro m En gland , he re ' s o ne jollies with several of them goin g faster th a t' ll b low a few cools. Over th ere as o f than their abi lity and d umping it. But August , fibe rglass tanks will be banned whenever th ere 's a b ig pu rse. everyone on all new m o to rcycles . BSA is al re ad y sta rts ge tt ing a bi t more hu n gry, in full producti on o n th eirs. o r I sho u ld The Exp erts, o f cou rse , were su p e r , say the firm th at ma k es th em for BSA, but did yo u see th e b ank-sh ot R oberts plu s o th ers fo r H us ky , Montcsa, CZ , did off Lawwill ? Whe e! S a turday ni gh t .\ J S , Greeve s, etc. Als o, the de cib el level reallv shoo k me a b it a n d o ut co mes ve in Engla n d on b ikes is allowed to be a id e -soa p b ox . Movin g arou nd th e tr ack, hig her than ours bu t I b e t th e y ' ll h a v-e ' cau se th e pre ss b ox es we re st uffed with to lower it so on o n that tigh t li t tle visiti n g dignitaries a nd friend s, we h ad isla n d . It 's 9 7 db 's co m pare d with o ur th e b ad luck to be righ t at the exact 92 . If y ou're pl annin g to rid e th e S ilver spo t when Keith ~I a sbhurn went down. State Three Day Trials you 'd b e tte r Wh at ca u sed it , haven't th e foggie st. The m ake su re you rs is 92 'ca use yo u' Il b e fro n t en d o f th e Triump h jus t did a ch ec ked . quick twitch (co llap sed fo r k m aybe P] T he hel met la w is alm o st wi th us a nd an d d ow n Kei th we n t, and hard. Now da mn it, he was lying a t the exit o f th e if you h ave n ' t done y our part in le tte r h al f-mil e tu rn - righ t - whe re the w riti n g do n't start sc re am ing when it on-co m in g rid e rs cou ld n ' t see h im until h appens. If it d oes go th ro u gh , a bout th ey were on top o f him. If it h ad n ' t th e o n ly fu n ny th in g I ca n th in k a bou t be e n fo r the qu ick ac tion of p it men it is see ing th e l %er s try in g to stu ff a ll the ir h air in to one. ..wo n't a helme t who raced over w ith wipe rags o r d es troy the ir im age ! Now if t hese any thing else the y could ge t their han ds do-gooders wanted to do so mething on , Mash burn wou ld h ave gotten really constr uc tive fo r safe ma sh ed. Wh ere w e re the flagmen to give m o to rcy clin g, wh y d on 't they ma k e it the warni ng? T hat's th e reas on fo r th e m a ndato ry to wear footgear w hile soap box. There we ren't any . T h e on ly op e ratin g a m o to rcy cle ? T h a t makes for tw o in sight were one w he re the le f t safety in o p eration o f said ve hicle, h ander ta kes ride rs o nto th e b ack wearing a h elme t d oe sn ' t. Will you all straigh t an d not anothe r u n til the j u m p , send cards w h en I end u p in the p o key where there were the starte r and for ge ll ing a rr es te d fo r n ot we a ring o ne an o th e r one who was the one wh o (sho uld I ever be so dumb to go o u t on finally m ade th e sprin t d own most of th e asp ha lt with out o ne)? Every th e st raigh taway . S ee ms to me so m eon e su m m er I see k id s tearing by o u r hous e was n egligen t . T he re sh ould h ave bee n a on th e w ay to the b eac h w it h n o thin g man h alf-way thro ugh the sweep er but swim tr u nks o n . Perio d . Don ' t ca re 'cause rid e rs h ave a te nden cy to do their wh at h appen s to th e ir b ods w hen th ey th in g there , an d o ne righ t wh ere Kei th cra sh ed so h e cou ld assis t on th at spo t. u nl o ad , but I d o 'c are if o ne o f th em h its A lso th at turn afte r the jump, which h as m e be cause with b ar e fee t h e ca n ' t ge t h is cont ro ls w o rkin g p roperly in time . clai med it s sh are of ove r-eage r c harge rs Al so , get th ose lette r in a bout th e use at times. o f our Pu bli c Lands. O ne n ew idea th e I checked th e ru le book an d could only fin d that th e refer ee is re sp on sible Pan zer d ivisi ons have come up wi th is fo r p ositi onin g flagmen , no t the nu m ber th at n o pub lic land shall be u sed until of same so it looked as if they j ust fu ll stu dies a re m ad e...wh ile these didn ' t have enough personnel. S o you "stu d ies" are going on you can b e t you r guys, list e n to m o th er, G et you r h eads kidney b elt the strip mi n e rs will be toge th e r w ith your professional rep s and stri p p ing aw ay . I wonder if the U.S. G overnm en t reme mbers w hat h appened see if a ru le change on th e n umber o f flagme n shou ld n' t be pu t in the ru le the last time th ey b ottled up a b unch of book ne xt yea r. Some th ing lik e " ...all Am eri ca n s on re serv ations, Remembe r tu rn s shall h ave o m: flag man, tw o at th e Ge ronim o a n d C razy H orse ? Well , Crazy d iscre tion o f th e referee if a turn is H o rse d id in Custer a n d we ca n ' t d o conside red m ore di fficu lt than o thers, th em in the same wa y b u t we su re as espec ially at N at ional eve n ts. " hell can vote 'em o u t! So ge t writ ing! SAVE THE HILLS By Bill Spe n ce r T he re comes a tim e in each m a n ' s li fe wh er e h e mu st ma ke some so rt of mo numen tal decisio n . O ne th a t w ill cre a te mu ch m ore w ork fo r h im th an h e eve r dreamed p oss ibl e. Such de c isions w er e made by General D ou glas l\liIcArthur more than o nc e. On Corregidor in 194 I, he had to de cide to retreat to fight an other da y . In 19 5 2 , h e he ld hi s forces back b ehind the Yal u Rive r to figh t th e Chin ese C ommunist wh o wer e streaming in , rath er th an pressi ng th e attac k, for poli tical reaso n s. T he decisio n to figh t fo r land is fas t c o m in g to th e motorcyclis t a nd li ke General Ma cArthur, the tim e an d the d eci sio n is rig h t n ow. It wasn 't too lo ng un til th e Ge neral was replaced , afte r h e fell into disfavo r wi th the political mucky-muc ks . Now the analogy ap plies to y o u and me . Not just fro m th e political mu c ky -mu c ks but fro m the legal side. A landmark d ecision is abou t to b e turned ou t b y th e Co ntra C osta Sup erior C ou rt th at just m igh t tak e away a ll th e la nd th a t m oto rcy cl ists rid e o n . That' s ri gh t, all th e lan d , no t ju st p u bli c b u t p ri va te , to o. G o ah ead an d lau gh an d say p sh aw , or wh a tever term you have th at m ean s I'm fu ll of Carro ll S he lb y 's Texas ch ili. It' s tr ue and if the m otorcy cl ist doesn' t get on the st ick, an d on th e ban d wagon , an d o rgan ize to figh t for his rights, motorcycle de al e rs, distributors and you ride rs won't have a sp ort or business or an yth ing because it will be illegal, as in , ag ainst the law. You th at yaw n and don' t care , beller se ll you r motors while the pri ce is still go od ; bec ause it's going to go d own fast when th e world fin ds ou t that motorcycling is a nuisan ce . The w ord "riu isan ce" is what su ms up this weuk's p roble ms of w hy we , the motorcy cle rid er s of Amer ica. will h e a thin g o f the past o ff the road . For those m illi on s o f you who haven' t heard o f the Save the H ills campaign, lean b ack , take o f swig o f yo u r fav ori te b rew a n d ge t re ad y for a hai r-ra iser that h as all the ingredien ts of Il it ler gass ing th e Jews. Out on th e hills of Po int Ric hm ond , Ca .. lies a small un assumin g buildi n g tha t h o uses the R ich mond Ramble rs ~ Io torc\'cle Clu b . Beh ind th e h ouse is a rat he r sm a ll ex pa nse of grou nd tha t is pa rt of a much larger am o u n t o f acre age. Some 400 ac res in total size w ith o wne rs th at a re man y and varied. Over 20 yea rs ago . these hills we re the pl ay grounds o f th e very few m o torcy cle ride rs, k ite flye rs , model airp la n e gu y s an d eve n a fe w h ike rs. T h e land w asn't m a rked b y sign s or such , a nd so ove r the years as the sport o f m otorcyclin g gr e w, so did the use of the l li lls... .. As th e use gre w so did th e surro und ing p opulation until one da y so mebody com p laine d. One thing led to ano th e r an d all o f a su dd en . the ow ners sa id , "Git!" "Bu t hey, w ait, m a n , we 've _ be e n u sin g this h ere hunk of land for a long tim e a n d h ow come we go t to gi t?" "Well, because it don't belong to you. It's priva te property." T he la nd belongs, in part , to ARCO , an oil com pany, wh ich p resu mbabl y se lls gas' an d oil to m oto rc ycle rid e rs, and o the r asso rted in dividuals inclu di ng local Ass em bly ma n Kn o x, but it isn ' t list ed u nde r h is name , o n ly a conce rn of his that h ol d s title to same, So th e figh t becomes p o li tical as well as legal wh en th e cl ub me m b ers fin ally stand u p fo r their righ ts to u se th is land. Why d o th e y h ave a right, y ou say? En te r Tom Shelby, attorney a n d Richm ond R ambler s mem ber. ' Th e en tire hunk of land is dedicated t o th e public." Wh y so, sir , y o u might ask? " We p roved in a cou rt o f law th a t th at land h ad be en u sed b y the public over a su f ficie n t p er iod of ti me for va ri ous reason s an d th erefo re , because of t he law on land u se , it was in fact dedic ated to th e p ublic." Well the n, w h y all the fu ss? If it ' s de dicated t o the public let's get o n it and ride. "The problem is almost u n b elievab le , actually it is unbeli evab le and 1 h ope to figh t it through th e ap p ela te court if it isn' t sol ve d. T he superior court h as found that th e activity of mo torcycli ng is a nuisance an d therefo re illegal. Like anybody that rides a m otorcycle fo r spor t in th e dirt. is crea ti ng a nuisan ce an d th at m a k es it illegal . The m aj o r point to real ize is th a t if th is goes through it sets a preceden t fo r o th er ru lings and it cou ld have it s greates e ffec t o n o ther land u se. A m an cou ld dona te hi s land to a m otorcy cle park an d easily ge t turned down fo r a perm it jus t by a zo n in g board reference to this ru lin g saying th at motorcy cl in g is a nuisance an d ille gal. " I h op e th at y o u all are ge tt ing th e p o int. Can yo u imagine wh at th e conseq ue nces cou ld be for a ll the tracks arou n d the countrv? .\ 11 the cy cle parks th a t a re in b u s i n e ~s ? All th e publ ic go vern me n t lan d in use ? If you are n ' t just a li ttle pe rt u rbed b y all th is an d haven 't gotte n a cou p le of " uncons titu tional " regurgit a tions a u t by now, th en y ou a re n ' t seri ous en oug h a ride r t o w orry about. For the res t of y o u that a re a little P.O .ed, ac tio n tim e is n ow. T he legal ap parat us is after u s. T he ti m e t o figh t is h ere a n d th e figh t is on to Sa ve th e Hi lls, Now for the pitch. It takes m one y to figh t in court and thi s b attle w ill cos t thousands and thousands. If thc p re ceden t is se t , the Ramble rs will lo se their land and w ill be u n a b le to put on race events to ma ke up th e b ucks tha t have already gone in to the figh t . Fo r this reason. the fig h t to save th e hi lls becomes yo u r figh t an d you must h el p pay fo r it. That may so u nd a little h eavy for some w ho live in I ow a and Louisiana, b u t if this law be comes p receden t, th en th ere w o n 't b e a ny thi ng left to figh t fo r or ri de o n. T wo o u tfits need yo ur h elp, o ne is th e R amblers' S AVE TIl E lIILLS FUN D, - th e o the r, Russ S anfo rd o f l\IORE. The tw o are figh ting the b ad gu y s. By the wa y, y o u di d know tha t we are the good gu ys . T h e op p ressed a re alw ay s the good guys an d we ce rtain ly are op p ressed . If you d on't act, y o u ma y n ot rid e. You c an se n d con trib u tio ns to: SAVE Til E lIILLS FU :-m, P.O . Box 484 , Stati on A, Richmond, Ca. 94808 or ~ IORE , 1'.0. Box 26062 , S acramento , Ca. 9 5826. 'WrItin' <:Around By Chuck Cl ayton Bits of co lum ns I never wrote Wan t to ge t ric h fai rly quic kly ? Then by a ll means ge t in o n th e Great Public Lan d Giv eway. n o w in p rocess. It's easy as oysters. See. the Xixon adm in is iration is rapidly conver ting a lot of u nclassified p ublic do ma in in to real esta te . Deserts . m o un tain s and beaches are b eing designated "recreation si res." Th at me an s in th os e are as you ca n lease . bu y o r simp ly be given the p rivilege o f e recting apar tm e nt h ouses, cam pgrou n ds . a m usem e n t p arks , h ot d og st ands , w hat have y o u . Even m ot orcycle p arsk , Le ases go e x tre me ly low, so me th in g in th e neigh borhood o f" d oll ar a year in man y cases. You have to build yo ur o wn "im p ro ve me n ts ," usu ally . a nd y ou ca n c harge th e public ad m iss ion to get in to th e ir la n d . Wh at's m ore, the g ove rn men t will fo rce m otor re c rc ation ists to pa tro n ize yo u r site u n der risk of arre st. Bu t af te r a ll , p riva te en te rp rise is part o f th e public to o , an d deserves to m ake a bu ck . You d on 't h ave to gue ss who p ay s... • • • Wh v ar en' t there m o re b lack m oto rcy cle ra ce rs? \\'h y is m otorcy cl e a w hite. p ro tes tan t , raci n g such An glo -Sax o n spor t? Clemmie J ackson com es to m ind. li e w as a very ta le n te d y ou ng racer of African ex trac tio n wh o wo n practically every Novi ce race a t As cot in 1965. T ha t was the yea r th a t Watts exploded an d, ou t of respect, Cle m mie didn't come to A scot th a t fa teful Friday n ight wh en th e sky to th e nort h was red with the burn in g o f Los A ng ele s. A few wee ks after th e riots Cle m mie w as leadin g the N o vice Main as u su al, fell off, Was h it b y anothe r b ike and died . 1 re me m b e r thinking at the tim e h ow mu ch a racer in a sp o t li ke tha t depends o n the sk ill o f h is fell ow racers to avoid th e fa te th at b efell Clemmie J ac kso n. Mo re sk ill than a Novice is expected to h ave. But I wondered if Cle mmie ' s b lac k fans we re as p ositiv e as I am th at h is de ath w as n obody's doing. It's th e oreticall y possb ile to cau se a m an's death on a racet rack, bu t the th ought co ul d never ente r a racer's mind .. ... • • • With all th is preposte ro us legislation well on its way to becom ing law in Cal ifornia, I thi nk I' ve figu red out wh at the governme nt's Fi nal S o lu tio n to th e Mo torcy cle Problem is intended to be . The y w an t to force us to we ar hel me ts an d turn our lig h ts o n in th e d aytim e . Get it? This w ould limi t o u r eyes igh r, en cu m ber our h eari n g, a nd m ak e b etter targets o f u s, too ! M N > ~ ::E ~ w z W ..J o >c

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