American Motorcyclist 02 2014 Street Version (preview)
American Motorcyclists Eye Gold At Winter Olympics
Updating The Sound Issue
Photo Steve Holmes
Welcome to Life Member Plus!
For more than 25 years, Al Holtsberry has supported the AMA. Now we’re offering something special for him and all other AMA Life Members.
We designed the new Life Member Plus program to stay connected with our Life Members and reward them for their years of dedication to the AMA. Offering up a package that includes American Motorcyclist magazine and AMA Roadside Assistance at a special discounted rate, Life Member Plus is a money-saving value.
The new program is 100 percent optional, so if you choose not to enroll, you still receive all the current benefits of life membership—a voice on behalf of motorcycling in the halls of government, the ability to sign up for AMA-sanctioned events, money-saving benefits and more.
With Life Member Plus, you get all that, plus AMA Roadside Assistance and American Motorcyclist magazine. And stay tuned for additional Life Member benefits to come.
AMA Life Member Plus Includes:
• FREE AMA Roadside Assistance
• 12 issues of
• AMA Life Member Plus Membership card, pin (first year), and decal with your renewal
• A voice protecting motorcyclists’ rights at the
state and local levels
• Continued access to AMA Rights, Riding, Racing and Rewards—including money-saving discounts
Steve Salisbury, Government Affairs Manager - Off-Highway
Imre Szauter, Government Affairs Manager - On-Highway
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Rob Baughman, Network Administrator
John Boker, Developer
Dave Coleman, Network Architect
Amy Hyman, Senior Programmer/Analyst
Bill Miller, Enterprise Architect
MEMBER SERVICES/DATA ENTRY
Lori Cavucci, Member Services Representative
Deb D’Andrea, Member Services Representative
Linda Hembroff, Member Services Representative
Darcel Higgins, Member Services Manager
Kimberly Jude, Member Services Representative
Tiffany Pound, Member Services Representative
Jessica Robinson, Member Services Representative
Angela Warren, Member Services Representative
Johnson Valley Update
Potential Deal Protects Access
By Wayne Allard
The AMA and our partners have been battling military encroachment into the Johnson Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Area in California for the past six years. While we support the mission of our fighting forces, the U.S. Department of the Navy overreached with its plan to take over hundreds of thousands of acres of public recreational lands near San Bernardino to use for live-fire training for the U.S. Marines Corps.
The move threatened much of the Johnson Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Riding area, a longstanding and popular area that is across the San Bernardino Mountains from Los Angeles. Further, the Marines would have gotten significant control of a so-called “shared-use” of any remaining OHV lands. This would have allowed the Marines to shut down that portion at any time, leaving the public with little recourse for responding.
Johnson Valley has hosted responsible OHV recreation and AMA-sanctioned competition events for decades. Losing access to this land would have been a major blow to the offhighway riding community in Southern California.
I’m pleased to report that thanks to language inserted into the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014—which had yet to be passed at press time—neither of those scenarios would be the case. Although we were unable to preserve OHV access to all existing areas of the Johnson Valley OHV Area, we were successful in securing a significant porition for AMA District 37 competition events, off-road truck and Jeep events and keeping the most important areas open for responsible OHV use.
The planned designated area is nearly as large as the Imperial Sand Dunes at Glamis, another popular Southern California riding area. For locals who are familiar with the sections of Johnson Valley, included in this plan is the entire so-called “Hammers” area (both the front and back side), Spooners, Aftershock, Sunbonnet, the Riffle Monument and the Cal200 Memorial (a.k.a., The Rockpile). In addition, the majority of the Fry Mountains and full access to Soggy Dry Lake Bed are also guaranteed for off-highway vehicle use, as well as access to Emerson Dry Lake Bed.
The AMA, local individual members, AMA Districts 37 and 36, the Off-Road Business Association, the California Association of 4-Wheel Drive Clubs, the California Off-Road Vehicle Association, the American Sand Association and the CaliforniaNevada Snowmobile Association are among those that have been fighting to preserve our access to Johnson Valley since news of the planned Marine expansion broke years ago. The Specialty Equipment Market Association, the Motorcycle Industry Council and Americans for Responsible Recreational Access also provided valuable support. Invested parties joined forces under the banner of the California Motorized Recreation Council, a non-profit 501(c)3. This off-highway recreation coalition played an important role in efforts to preserve access.
Once the Johnson Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Area becomes written into law, this becomes the first federal land use designation for OHV use and sets a precedent for
future off-highway motorized recreation. Indeed, the area would be recognized with the same force with which the government recognizes Wilderness areas, providing unprecedented protection against future attacks on OHV access.
The U.S. military is one of the most powerful constituencies on Capital Hill. When the Navy and Marines began eying Johnson Valley, the AMA and others recognized it as a very significant threat. Thanks to thoughtful pressure, strong partnerships, enduring grassroots efforts and reasonable adversaries, a viable and working compromise was forged that not only sustains Johnson Valley, but provides the Marines with the space they need and, as a bonus, creates a framework through which we can protect other OHV areas going forward.
One individual deserves enormous credit for this effort. The Johnson Valley compromise would not have been possible without the support and hard work of U.S. Representative Paul Cook (R-Calif.), who also happens to be a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel. The U.S. House Armed Services Committee, of which Rep. Cook is a member, inserted the Cook Amendment that includes the off-highway-friendly language into the final bill. No question, Rep. Cook made this deal a reality. His strong leadership and exceptional ability to work with the Natural Resources Committee and Armed Services Committees in both branches of Congress protected this popular off-highway area.
In announcing the deal, Rep. Cook said, “This agreement ensures public safety, while also balancing the training needs of the Marine Corps with the rights of the off-road community. It preserves California’s most important off-road recreation area for future generations. After years in which off-roaders have lived in fear of the closure of Johnson Valley, this permanently ends the threat of base expansion into off-road areas.”
As a defender of your freedom to ride and race, I find it refreshing that a U.S. Representative recognizes the benefits of OHV recreation. As we work to codify our right to recreate responsibly on public lands, we look forward to building lasting relationships with more supporters such as Rep. Cook to better protect our access for this and future generations.
For more information on this issue, please visit www.americanmotorcyclist.com and search for “Johnson Valley.” A map of the compromise plan for Johnson Valley can be found here: http://cook.house.gov/johnson-valley-map.
Wayne Allard, a former U.S. Senator from Colorado, is the AMA vice president of government relations.
“The more confident I am on the dirtbike, the more confident I am in ski cross.”
MaMMoth Motocrosser
John teller/ski cross
Of all the Olympic alpine sports, ski cross is probably the most like motocross racing.
As with motocross, ski cross racers line up for a mass start, explode out of the gate and jostle side by side as they fight for the best position up front. One relies on gravity for its motive force, while the other uses an engine.
So it should come as no surprise that for athletes like U.S. Ski Cross Team member and X-Game gold medalist John Teller, both are able to feed his adrenaline craving. In fact, Teller finds plenty of benefits to his skiing from cross-training in motocross.
“Right off the bat, there’s a huge correlation between the two,” Teller says.
“They’re kind of the same type of course, with whoops and doubles and big jumps and all of that. They both appeal to the sense of speed and skill, and they’re both fun.”
Now 30, Teller grew up and still lives in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., home of the Mammoth Mountain ski resort and the AMAsanctioned Mammoth Mountain Motocross. Teller got his start on skis at the age of 3 and gravitated to downhill racing, which he focused on for years. By the time he was 22, he had had some success, and even tried out for the U.S. team several times in downhill.
“I was close, but I didn’t make it,” he says. “Because of monetary reasons, and because I needed to stop beating my head against the wall, it finally came to the
point where I had to stop skiing and start working.”
Teller, whose dad owns Mammoth’s gas station and whose uncle runs an auto repair shop, went to work as a mechanic. With the extra time, he decided to try something he’d always wanted to do: motocross.
“I had been riding on friends’ bikes a bit growing up, and when I was finally able to afford a dirt bike and have the time to go ride it, I bought an ’06 CRF450, and I just fell in love with racing,” he says. “I’d drive north three hours to Reno to race, or I’d head south to all the tracks in Southern California.”
He never stopped skiing for fun, and when he had the chance to give ski cross a try, it reminded him of why he loved skiing so much. Plus, he was good at it, earning
TOP-LEVEL ATHLETES
EVERYDAY RIDERS
Plenty of top-ranked U.S. athletes will be competing against the best in the world at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. A few of them have our kind of secret training tools: motorcycles.
By Grant Parsons
a spot on the U.S. Ski Cross team in 2009 and working his way through the World Cup Series—all the while continuing to race motocross.
The two sports, Teller says, complement each other.
“On the technical side, all the things you need to do in skiing are also there in MX,” he says. “Keeping your shoulders level, keeping your weight to the outside, the jumps—they all come super natural to me.
“Motocross just kind of turned into a training platform for me for skiing,” he says. “The more confident I am on the dirtbike, the more confident I am in ski cross.”
In 2011, Teller became the first American to win a Ski Cross World Cup race, in Austria. A few weeks later, he won a gold medal at the X Games in Aspen. It
was only natural to set his sights on the 2014 Olympics, but he also kept racing motocross.
“Motocross has been a huge part of my training,” Teller says. “This year, with the Olympics coming up, I dialed back a bit, but I still ran the Mammoth Mountain Motocross race.”
With the Mammoth Motocross, an AMAsanctioned event, being in his hometown, Teller says he was excited to race it. Also, since he just turned 30, this was his first year in the vet class. He qualified for the main event both days, tried to keep things fun and finished midpack, a result he was happy with, considering his focus has been on the Olympics more this year.
“Skiing is such second nature to me that I take it for granted—it’s almost too easy,”
he says. “That’s why I like the challenge of MX. Every time I get on a dirtbike I have to remind myself that I’m not a pro. There are so many situations on a dirtbike where things can get out of whack fast. I have to remind myself I’m not Superman.”
Aside from the fun of racing, Teller says he has had a few extremely cool experiences, including meeting AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Jeremy McGrath, the winningest AMA Supercross rider of all time.
“It was pretty cool to meet McGrath,” he says. “I walked up to him and introduced myself. I told him that he was ‘the man,’ that I couldn’t imagine doing what he does on a Supercross track,” Teller says. “He said it right back to me, saying ‘I see you guys on skis and I think the exact same thing!’”
Photo by Peter Morning
NO SCHOOL LIKE THE OLD SCHOOL
Andy Newell/Cross-Country Skiing
U.S. Cross Country Ski Team member Andy Newell appreciates the simpler things in life, those with a sense of history.
He competes in the oldest form of skiing, cross-county, which has its roots in using skis to traverse long distances. He lives in Vermont in a cabin without electricity or running water. And his motorcycle of choice was a natural: a 1970 Triumph Bonneville.
“I guess I’ve kind of embraced the old-school lifestyle,” Newell laughs. “Being a Vermonter, I’m drawn to the classics.”
Introduced to skiing at the age of 3, Newell was racing by the time he was 5. Cross-country skiing has a strong culture in Vermont, Newell notes, and there are in fact far more crosscountry ski trails in the state than there are downhill runs, so the choice was easy.
He attended the Stratton School in Vermont, which has produced a long chain of winter athletes over the years. He continued training, and by 2001, he was competing in international junior World Championship events, and joined the U.S. Development team after high school.
About the same time in his early 20s, he bought his first motorcycle.
“I had always wanted one, and I was doing a lot of commuting,” Newell said. “Gas prices skyrocketed, and I needed something with good gas mileage, so I bought an older Honda Shadow to learn on. The thrill of riding a bike was a new experience, and I loved it.”
The Shadow was a great introduction, he says, but he was itching for something else, and like many motorcyclists, he was perusing the ads on Craigslist. One day, he saw a vintage 1970 Triumph Bonneville for sale in Burlington, about 90 miles away.
“I got up early, and on a whim drove up to Burlington,” he says. “The bike looked like it was in pretty good shape, so I bought it. I don’t know a lot about old Triumphs, so I could have really gotten burned on it, but when I took it to a mechanic and asked him if I got ripped off, he said, ‘No, you did alright’ so that was good!”
Newell leans toward café-style motorcycles, so he fitted lower bars and removed a few parts to keep a clean, purposeful look.
Meanwhile, Newell had continued to climb the ladder in crosscountry skiing, finishing 12th in the 2006 World Cup event to earn a spot on the 2006 U.S. Olympic team. He continued training with the team and now has his sights set on the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Through it all, he says, the Triumph has really helped him out.
“Being an athlete can really be stressful,” he says. “We look for things outside our realms for a release, and riding a bike is that for me.”
For him, nothing compares to bugging out on the bike.
“There are so many great roads around Vermont,” he says. “I don’t take weekend-long trips, but I do try to ride it a lot. My bike looks nice, and I like nice things, but I ride it in the rain, on dirt roads.
“I think that just kind of goes with that old-school outlook,” he says. “You get out, away from everything, on a dirt road on the Triumph, and it looks exactly the way it would have looked in the 1960s or ’70s. It’s like it’s unchanged.”
Like Teller, he agrees that there’s a lot of crossover between skiing and motorcycling.
“Anyone who’s a racer knows that you’re always looking for the best lines, the best way to ski or to ride terrain. On a bike, I’m always thinking about lines, about corners. I just really like getting away on it.”
“You get out, away from everything, on a dirt road on the Triumph, and it looks exactly the way it would have looked in the 1960s or ’70s. It’s like it’s unchanged.”
Photo by Steve Holmes
Carving The Corners
Chris Mazdzer/Luge
Most downhill winter sports athletes are speed junkies, and U.S. Luge Team member Chris Mazdzer is no exception. Laying on his back on a tiny sled, Mazdzer steers only by shifting his body weight, at times hitting more than 90 miles per hour on adrenalineboosting bobsled runs.
So what kind of motorcycle does he favor? A sportbike, naturally.
“Riding a motorcycle was kind of something that I’ve always wanted to do,” Mazdzer says. “There weren’t a lot of people around me who had bikes, so I went out and took a weekend motorcycle course to get my license. There was a bobsledder who had a bike, so I bought his—a Suzuki GSX-R600.”
The choice, he says, was easy.
“Those kind of bikes always appealed to me,” he says. “It’s all control and bodyweighting, just like riding the sled.”
Growing up near Lake Placid, N.Y., the home base of several winter U.S. Olympic teams, Mazdzer got interested in luge at the age of 8, and was training on Lake Placid’s luge course shortly thereafter. Since then, he’s raced on the World Cup circuit, placing as high as sixth in 2013—and notched his best finish ever in November with a fourth place in a World Cup race.
“Luge is an interesting sport to learn because it takes so long to develop the skills,” he says. “It’s very finely tuned inputs on the sled. It’s also the most dangerous. Our center of gravity is much higher compared to the bobsled and the skeleton. They barely flip over. We can flip all the time.”
The key, he says is using very fine control inputs, similar to riding a sportbike at speed.
“My coaches think I’m joking when I say it, but it really is surprising how similar the sports are,” he says. “In luge it’s all those little subtle movements, and it’s the same on the bike. Knee angle, weight distribution, total body control. A lot of luge and riding is linking corners, a lot of flow, and both give you a really great feeling coming out of a corner.”
Not surprisingly for a guy who flies down mountains on snaking courses, Mazdzer’s
ideal rides involve lots of corners.
“I’m not the kind of person who wants to go out and go fast in a straight line,” he says. “What’s nice around Lake Placid is that there are a lot of twisty roads. I like linking up really tight corners, having to put your body in the right positions to hold tight lines.”
Just as with the luge, he doesn’t mind repetition.
“I just like to flow, taking it easy,” he says. “There are a couple roads that are my favorites, and I have no trouble going and riding laps on those roads, back and forth.”
Mazdzer
says for real thrills, he’s traveled to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for a track day.
“That was the first time I’ve ever been able to really push myself and find my own limitations on the motorcycle, which was really fun,” he says. “I’m not where I’d like to be, but I wound up doing better than I expected. On my first time there I was moved from beginner to advanced.”
He was also able to go faster than he ever has before on a sled. On the luge, he’s been clocked between 94 and 95 miles per hour. At Loudon, he went over 140 mph.
“That was a great experience, too, to go that fast,” he says. “It’s good training, because you have to be able to take in so much information and act on it in a very short period of time. It’s amazing the amount of information you can digest at speeds like that.”
"My coaches think I’m joking when I say it, but it really is surprising how similar the sports are."
by
Photo
Mitchell Haaseth/NBC
A few of the hundreds of AMA-sanctioned events this month, detailed on the following pages.
1
The 2013 AMA Supercross Championship charges full speed into February with action in Anaheim, Calif., Feb. 1; San Diego, Calif., Feb. 8; Arlington, Texas, Feb. 15; and Atlanta, Ga., Feb. 22. For the full schedule, see page 40.
2
The top amateur woods racers in the West will continue their quests for AMA national championship titles in the AMA West Hare Scrambles National Championship Series Feb. 15-16 in Paicines, Calif. Youth riders compete on Saturday and adults on Sunday. For the full schedule, see page 41.
3
Catch the last two races of in the AMA Indoor Dirt Track National Championship Series Feb. 8 and Feb. 22, both in Du Quoin, Ill., featuring short track and TT. Info: www. stevenaceracing.com.
4
One of the best shows in motorcycling is the AMA Arenacross National Championship Series, which has a full slate of races in February: Jan. 31-Feb. 2 in Milwaukee, Wis.; Feb. 8-9 in Sacramento, Calif.; Feb. 14-16 in Nampa, Idaho; and Feb. 21-23 in Reno, Nev. For the full schedule, see page 41.
The AMA Ice Race Grand Championship is happening Feb. 8-9 in Cadillac, Mich. For more information visit www. naactionsports.com
2013 AMA Championship Banquet, Jan. 18, 2014, at the Aladdin Shrine Center in Columbus, Ohio. Info: www. americanmotorcyclist.com.
5
The battles in the desert heat up in the AMA Hare and Hound National Championship Series, Feb. 8-9 in Spangler Hills-Ridgecrest, Calif. Youth race on Saturday and amateurs on Sunday. For the full schedule, see page 42.
COMING UP
Mark your calendar now. The 2014 AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Daytona Breakfast is set for Friday, March 14, at the Daytona 500 Club, with special guest Hall of Famer Craig Vetter. Many more hall of famers will also be on hand, so you don’t want to miss this prestigious event!
ALABAMA
cOMPETITION
MOTOcrOSS
FEB 27: PELL CITY: RPM SPORTS, (205) 699-8857, RPMSPORTSONLINE.COM
FEB 1: NEWBERRY: 2 DAY EVENT, UNLIMITED SPORTS MX INC, , UNLIMITEDSPORTSMX.COM
FEB 22: CITRA: MOTOCROSS OF MARION COUNTY, INC., (352) 5912377, MXMARIONCOUNTY.COM
FEB 23: CITRA: MOTOCROSS OF MARION COUNTY, INC., (352) 5912377, MXMARIONCOUNTY.COM
IDAHO
cOMPETITION
ArENAcrOSS
FEB 14: NAMPA: FELD MOTOR SPORTS, (800) 216-7482, ARENACROSS.COM
FEB 15: NAMPA: 2 DAY EVENT, FELD MOTOR SPORTS, (800) 2167482, ARENACROSS.COM
ILLINOIS
cOMPETITION
HArE ScrAMBLES
FEB 23: (Includes ATVs) KEITHSBURG: BURLINGTON VALLEY DUSTERS, (319) 759-6979
LOUISIANA
cOMPETITION
MOTOcrOSS
FEB 16: MANSFIELD: DESOTO MOTORSPORT PARK, (318) 461-3659, DESOTOMOTOSPORTPARK.COM
HALL OF FAME EXHIBITS AND EVENTS
AMA MOTOrcycLE H A LL OF FAME MotorcycleMuseuM.org
The AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame is on the AMA campus in Pickerington, Ohio, and is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week. Closed: Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Main Hall: AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame: Recognizing those who have made significant contributions to all aspects of motorcycling.
MIcHIgAN
cOMPETITION
IcE rAcE
FEB 8: (Includes ATVs) CADILLAC: 2 DAY EVENT, NORTH AMERICAN ACTION SPORTS, LLC., (989) 8713356, NAACTIONSPORTS.COM
NEVADA
cOMPETITION
ArENAcrOSS
FEB 21: RENO: FELD MOTOR SPORTS, (800) 216-7482, ARENACROSS.COM
FEB 22: RENO: 2 DAY EVENT, FELD MOTOR SPORTS, (800) 216-7482, ARENACROSS.COM
NEW yOrK
cOMPETITION
MUD & SNOW ScrAMBLES
FEB 9: (Includes ATVs) PORT CRANE: SQUARE DEAL RIDERS M/C, (607) 693-2634, SQUAREDEALRIDERS.COM
FEB 23: (Includes ATVs) PORT CRANE: SQUARE DEAL RIDERS M/C, (607) 693-2634, SQUAREDEALRIDERS.COM
OHIO
rEcrEATIONAL
SWAP MEETS
FEB 16: BRILLIANT: ABATE OF OHIO, INC., (740) 284-1577, ABATE.COM
2014 eVeNts
Dirt-Track! All-American Motorcycle r acing: Celebrating the storied history of the men and machines who battle on the dirt oval.
2 Wheels + Motor, A Fine Art Exhibition: More than two dozen artists celebrate the spirit, excitement and adventure of motorcycling through fine art.
Founder’s Hall: Honoring the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame’s generous contributors.
AMA PrO r AcI Ng
2 014 AMA PrO MOTOcrO SS ProMotocross.coM
May 24: San Bernardina, ca lif.: Glen Helen National
May 31: Sacramento, ca lif.: Hangtown Motocross Classic
June 7: Lakewood, co lo.: Thunder Valley National
June 14: Mt. Morris, Pa.: High Point National
June 28: Blountville, Tenn.: Tennessee National
Jul. 5: Buchanan, Mich.: RedBud National
Jul. 12: Mechanicsville, Md.: Budds Creek National
PENNSyLVANIA
cOMPETITION
MOTOcrOSS
FEB 15: (Includes ATVs) HARRISBURG: TRAIL-WAY SPEEDWAY, (717) 359-7056, MOTORAMAEVENTS.COM
FEB 16: (Includes ATVs) HARRISBURG: TRAIL-WAY SPEEDWAY, (717) 359-7056, MOTORAMAEVENTS.COM
