Photos: DeCoster and Oasis Kids, 1970 and 2012

Randy Caldera, Sector Superintendent, Carnegie SVRA

Carnegie SVRA Staff

Greetings Randy and Staff,

I’ve been a Carnegie fan since 1970 when I brought 4 of my elementary school students to attend the Trans-AM (first) race there at the east end of the land. In 1971 (west end) I had to bring a school bus to hold the 50 kids who signed up for the trip. In fact one of them was missing at the end of the race. He ended up in the helicopter that took DeCoster to the Livermore hospital after the World Champ’s horrendous crash.

Over these 42 years I have taken hundreds of young people to Carnegie every year. They have a chance to enjoy friendship, challenges and just plain fun in the park. Growing up requires responsibility and curiosity. Exploring the hills and canyons of Carnegie offers a never ending set of physical tests that give these frequently at-risk kids a great sense of accomplishment. Many of them have had life changing experiences and gone on to become professional icons for the current generation. (i.e.) Jan Sears – one of our 70’s kids who came on Carnegie trips. Later he became a paramedic and worked as a Carnegie Volunteer. I later taught him how to fly (I’m an FAA Flight Instructor) and now he is a CHP Flight  Officer at Napa Co, Airport.

Fast forward, we are now looking forward to a great moment in the park’s history – the opening of the Alameda/Tesla Expansion Project. This dream is getting much closer and our organization (Carnegie Forever, Inc.) is on board with support for you and your staff and the OHV Division. After our positive meeting on Saturday (12.1.2012) the Board of Directors were unanimous that we want to support the staff in any way. In the last few months we have all noticed a much appreciated rapport that is developing between riders and staff. Please share this document with your crew, Twin Cities, and Division.

BTW – we still see our “pal” Roger every year – the photo above is from when we met him at Hangtown 2012 where he gave the gang a tour of the KTM Team in the race pits.

So Randy and Staff let’s do all we can to get the new property through the political and environmental ruts and over the Finish Line so future generations can share our history.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Dave Duffin for Carnegie Forever, Inc. and Oasis for Kids, Inc.

On Tuesday March 15, Mark Martinez and Dave Duffin, Directors at Carnegie Forever took water samples from the creek that runs through our OHV park. We are going to get the samples tested from a lab to determine if the water samples taken by the group that sued the State Park OHV Division are accurate.

We will have test results in the future and will publish the information.

Carnegie Forever members Diana Tweedy and Dave Duffin attended an “EmergencyMeeting” of the CA OHV Commission on Monday morning March 14 in Sacramento.The commission wanted to publicly present the news that the State Budget Committeeswant to take $10-20 million dollars from the OHV Trust Fund. This amount is on top ofthe $120 million that has already been borrowed over the last 3 years.

Tweedy and Duffin addressed the Commission stating the need to keep these fundswhere they are because the OHV Division of the State Park system is user funded. Otherspeakers represented the entire OHV community including the AMA, BRC, CarnegieForever, cycle dealers, state park vendors, National Forest service, 4 WD clubs, etc.

The Commission moved to draft a letter stating the need to leaving these funds wherethey are because of the public trust that collected them as opposed to public taxes.

Many speakers presented a voice of overwhelming support and were well received.Perhaps the person who received the best response from the Commission and theaudience was 12 year old Brooke Murphy of San Jose, who captured the hearts ofeveryone at the Ballroom of the Double Tree Hotel in Sacramento. She is pictured afterthe meeting with Commission members and AMA leadership members. Her contributionto this mess – a $1million dollar smile and the importance of protecting kids OHV rights.

The next time you visit Carnegie State Vehicle Recreation Area gaze upwards to the hi-tension wires and towers running through the park. There you will notice two separate nests on the towers in the center of the park for families of Red TailHawks. Can we suppose that these magnificent raptors have NO problem with our riding, noise and dare I say exhaust? The park also comes alive at night withbobcats, coyotes, deer, elk and other critters that prosper here. Another species thrives here too – OHV recreation families!

(Photo by Dave Duffin, March 16, 2011 at 12:30 PM)

The Supercross series came to the Oakland Coliseum for the first time in 27 years and the organizers donated tickets to Oasis for Kids, Inc. which regularly takes youngsters to the Carnegie State OHV Park. The crew had a chance to meet many of the stars of the international racing series including (pictured) Mike Alessi of the KTM USA Team. They also met Roger DeCoster the KTM Team manager. DeCoster, a former 6-time World Champ from Belgium, met the kids for 20 minutes in the middle of a hectic day of preparation for the races that night. The Carnegie Crew also had reserved seats and watched the riders from all over the US and the world in a the events all night. These world class riders are superb role models since they have to train every week to be able to meet the demands of this rigorous OHVsport.

The rainy season of Northern California has been very good to the Sierra Mountains, but the coast and valleys are just about normal. The creek that runs through Carnegie State Park has however been virtually dry. This same 30-day waterway was the focus of a lawsuit that almost closed our park last year. As you recall the creek was supposed to be carrying soil and chemical contaminants into the Delta of the San Joachim Valley.

One of our Carnegie Forever Board Members, Mark Martinez has enlisted the help of an independent water analysis company that will do an independent appraisal of the creek water quality entering and leaving Carnegie. We were ready to proceed with this collection procedure except for one simple fact – there is no water in the creek!

Many of you go riding with your families. Imagine if you could not buy
motorcycles for your children. Imagine that you could not buy parts for the
motorcycles you do own. Imagine your kids sitting inside the house playing video
games all day. In a day when too many kids don’t get enough exercise, we may
lose our favorite form of outdoor family recreation because of a law intended to
protect small children from lead tainted imports.

This scenario is the unintended consequence of a law that was passed in
response to toys exported to this country from China with a high lead content.
The legislators were appropriately concerned about small children ingesting,
inhaling or absorbing unsafe levels of lead. The Consumer Product Safety
Improvement Act (CPISA), as the law is called, bans the selling of products
to children, 12 and under, which contain more than very tiny amounts of lead.
The danger lies in small children putting lead based toys into their mouths
and sucking on them. There is only one problem; this law applies to children’s
motorcycles. Because batteries and brake calipers contain small amounts of
lead, bikes meant for children will be subject to the ban.

In May of 2009 CPSC recognized the danger of steering kids to bikes that were
too big and heavy for them by making kid-sized dirt bikes unavailable, and
delayed enforcement of CPSIA until May of 2011.

Earlier last year federal lawmakers held a hearing on the Consumer Product
Safety Improvement Act of 2010 (CPSEA) that is supposed to fix the original
CSPIA and allow the consumer Product Safety Commission to exempt certain
products from the ban. The AMA, which has been lobbying for an exemption for
children’s motorcycles, is concerned because the new law does not specifically
exclude children’s dirt bikes.

If the CPSEA is not fixed and passed before May 1, 2011 then kid’s dirt bikes will
no longer be available.

We love riding dirt bikes with our kids, and most of us grew up riding with our
parents. We treasure time spent with our families enjoying the outdoors and
teaching our kids the joys of off-road riding. Don’t forget the kids seated on the
platform at Carnegie Freedom Day speaking into the microphone and saying
what it was that they liked about riding at Carnegie. Basically they all agreed that
riding dirt bikes at Carnegie was enjoyable because it allowed them to spend
time with their families. This issue is of major importance to us and we need to
stay informed.

There are other successful racers/hill-climbers from Carnegie, but Kacy Martinez is very high profile at the moment. She is sponsored by KTM, won the 2009 2010 WORCS Women’s pro title, women’s hill-climb championship, and is the AMA 2009 woman rider of the year.

Kacy started riding Carnegie at a very early age and still enjoys riding here with her friends. Her slim graceful figure belies her profession as a motorcycle racer. Like other successful athletes, Kacy attributes a good part of her success to her family and the backing and support she received from them.

Some time ago I ran into her when I was practicing at the motocross track. That day the track was dry and rutted and I was having trouble going fast though the some of the corners. I noticed a rider on a Honda CR 125 really attacking the track, and I got off my bike to take a look. I watched her as she charged into a dry, rutted corner and then at the last minute pitched it sideways at speed. After hitting the berm, she released the clutch and gunned the bike through the turn and down the next straight. She was attacking the track and going really fast. It wasn’t until afterwards when I saw her go back to her father’s truck and take off her helmet that I realized that she was a girl. If you ride at Carnegie you have probably seen her. She still rides there when she gets a chance.

At about 10:00a.m. on October 16th Kacy was on the starting line for the 24 Hours at Glen Helen. It all began a few months ago when KTM decided to put together a professional woman’s team for the 24 hour race held in San Bernadino County. It appears that KTM supported motocross racer, Sarah Whitmore, came up with the idea after she raced the 6 Hours of Glen Helen and loved it. Her teammates, all KTM racers,
were Kacy Martinez (2010 WORCS champion), Maria Forsberg (2010 GNCC champion) and Sherri Cruse (pro motocross racer and frequent WORC racer). It was reported that they even had their own semi at the track.

Glen Helen is tough. As part of the national motocross championship series, motocross fans from all over the country have seen it on television. It is a rough demanding track, even for professionals. The 24 Hours at Glen Helen includes twelve miles of racing on two motocross tracks (Glen Helen and the REM track), an off road truck track, miles of tight and twisty trails, and a paved road course. It is legendary. Think of
it. About six hours total racing on the track for each team member and almost half of it at night. 24 hours without sleep. This race is the definition of tough. Watching the race you can see that it takes everything out of the competitors and more.

Motorcycle racing is not a team sport. When the gate drops everyone is fighting for the lead. They are all “the competition”. Being a part of a team was probably a new experience for most of these girls. Kacy’s dad, Mark Martinez tended the grill making sure that there was enough to eat and was track side where it counted. He was there the entire 24 hours and his indomitable spirit and work ethic helped the team pull
through both on and off the track. According to Sarah Whitmore in an article in the January edition of Dirt Bike Magazine, the women racers worked really well together both as individuals and as members of a team.

Eventually Kacy lined up on the men’s professional line for a Le Mans style start and took her KTM 250 into second place going through the first turn. Perhaps it was due to her experience climbing hills at Carnegie, but she found traction and sped out of the gate beating all but one of the professional teams lined up beside her. She experienced some problems coming into the Enduro Cross section and fell out of the top
three. The girls took turns riding and when night fell their lap times only fell by one minute. Have you ever ridden through dust at night? You can’t see much.

Anyway when it was all over team KTM captured the women’s pro class victory and came in a respectful ninth overall out of forty-four competitive teams. More importantly, they made history by being the first factory supported off road team. We certainly have something to be proud about. She didn’t ride the race alone. It was a team effort, but they all pushed it through almost impossible conditions and put in an
incredible performance. We at Carnegie Forever want to give Kacy a big collective hug. She is putting us on the map. Her determination and effort have definitely paid off.

See the Racer X web-site.

December 8, 2010, Carnegie SVRA. Members of the Carnegie Forever Board of Directors met with OHV staff to review a series of developments at the park. The ongoing meetings are a way to continue presenting the views of the users to the managers. The group included Joe Ramos Carnegie Sector Superintendent, Jerry Fouts an AMA Congressman and Ole and Sherry Stortruen who represent 4WD groups. Coming to observe the meeting was Kane Silverberg one of the California OHV Commissioners. We invited him to take a ride in the park, but the weather was too wet. The on-going developments of the Alameda/Tesla Expansion Project were a key item of discussion at the round table, informal meeting held outdoors at MotoMart, our vendor store at Carnegie. Also submitted was the need to meet more frequently. Our organization hopes to have a meeting of the OHV Commission in 2011 in Tracy. In the future we will also publish minutes of our meetings so people can keep up with our activities.

Christmas Greetings to all of the subscribers to our website.

As Skip said at Carnegie Freedom day; “We have to vote those so and so’s out of office”. We live in a free society and it is more important than ever to exercise our right to vote. But which so and so’s do we need to vote out of office? This is why we need to educate ourselves about where particular candidates stand pertaining to issues that affect us. The Internet is an invaluable tool to find out about candidate voting records and which candidates are introducing legislation that diminish our riding opportunities. Beyond just doing basic Internet research there is help on the way. In Dirt Rider’s latest issue there is an article entitled “You Lose! Don’t Make Dirt Bikes Extinct” by Jimmy Lewis.

This article contains some really useful information about voting. Check out all three pages especially the section on how to obtain information about candidates and issues. According to this article there is a 2010 AMA member voter guide (you need to login). The AMA doesn’t tell you how to vote but tries to help AMA members understand where candidates stand on issues important to the future of motorcycling. Although most of the candidates did not return the AMA questionnaire, and this tool is limited, do take a look here if you are an AMA member.

Over the next couple of weeks we have to find out about the candidates and the issues. As Jimmy Lewis says: “Shortly, if things continue the way they are going, you will not have dirt bikes to ride or places to ride them.” Read the article and take action. It was never more important than it is today to exercise your right to vote. Know the candidates and the propositions before you enter the voting booth.

Getting ready for elections and making sure we understand the issues is very important. I have been voting since I was eighteen years old and take my duty as a citizen of this great country very seriously. Sometimes a particular issue is not as cut and dry as it initially seems.

I recently had a discussion about Proposition 23 with a friend. As I understood it, Proposition 23 would suspend AB-32 (a greenhouse gas reduction program) until California’s unemployment drops to 5.5 percent or less for four consecutive quarters (not very likely any time soon). I originally assumed that Proposition 23 was not a good thing.

After listening to his arguments I researched the issues and this is what I learned.

According to the literature AB-32 is a comprehensive greenhouse-gas-reduction program that includes increased renewable energy and cleaner fuel requirements, and mandatory emissions reporting and fee requirements for major emittors such as power plants and oil refineries.

It sounds like AB-32 will reduce green house gases. Isn’t that a good thing? Aren’t green house emissions responsible for global warming? We all have our own answers to this question. I believe they do. There are scientists who believe that they do and others who believe that they don’t. Beyond this question, other issues germane to this proposition are more complicated than I thought.

Some newspaper articles blame out-of-state oil companies for sponsoring and funding Proposition 23. Yet according to a site called Ballotpedia, Proposition 23 supporters include Dan Logue, US Congressman Tom McClintock (see my previous post about Tom McClintock), Steve Poizner, The California Republican Party, Jim Kellog, the California Manufacturers and Technology Association and Americans for the prosperity of California.

Then there is the issue of who will be responsible for implementing and making regulations pursuant to AB-32. According to the language of the statute, The California Air Resources Board (CARB), under the California Environmental Protection Agency, is to prepare plans to achieve the objectives stated in the Act.

We all know these groups. The day before yesterday there was a newspaper article about CARB, the state agency charged with researching and adopting air quality standards. CARB grossly miscalculated pollution levels for diesel-fueled off-road vehicles used in construction and other industries. Its scientific analysis was off by 340 percent.

“The setbacks in the air board’s research – and the proposed softening of a landmark regulation raise questions about the performance of the agency as it is in the midst of implementing the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, or AB-32 as it is commonly called, one of the state’s and the nation’s most ambitious environmental policies to date.”

So the question also becomes – do we really trust the California Air Resources Board to implement this law in an unbiased manner? Among other things, my friend said that the CARB used junk science with the OHV Red Sticker/Green sticker issue and based current emissions on tests from a mid 1970s 2- stroke.

According to a comment to the Chronicle article alluded to above there are also other questions pertaining to this agency which include among other things poisoning California wells by forcing refineries to add MTBE to gasoline and forcing independent truck drivers to sell their rigs when they issued draconian standards based on phony science. The author of the comment said that its director, Mary Nichols, has arrogantly joked, “I can do anything I want–I don’t have to stand for election”.

Need I say more? Voting is not easy and I cannot tell you how to vote. As Wooster says in P.G. Wodehouse’s popular novel, “there are circles within circles”. Nothing is easy or even cut and dried. I don’t want to tell you how I will vote. Everybody has different values and beliefs, but it has never been more important than it is today to exercise our right to vote and educate ourselves about the issues.

As I said before, the Dirt Rider article has some very good ideas. It is an invaluable resource to look at before you step into the voting booth. Also talk to friends and look at websites for organizations that represent our interests like Blue Ribbon Coalition, CORVA, AMA, District 36, and others to find out what the issues are and where the candidates stand.