Like the ancient Phoenix rising out of the ashes, Carnegie State Off-Highway Vehicle Park, whose very existence was threatened by a lawsuit in December 2009, has re-invented itself. It is now a leaner, greener and more sustainable off-road riding area.

This OHV recreation area has met and exceeded environmental challenges for the last 50 years. Along the way these tests brought together a coalition of visitors, long time park enthusiasts, and park employees. Also joining in was the leadership coalition of the American Motorcyclist Association, the Blue Ribbon Coalition and the AMA District 36. The dark days of 2009 also spawned Carnegie Forever, a formal (501) organization whose membership now exceeds 13.000 subscribers.

The first order of business at the opening ceremony, was to thank all of those who have worked so hard to do whatever necessary to push back the lawsuit and keep Carnegie open. Thanks went out to the CA OHV administrators, the Carnegie Rangers on the ground explaining over and over why changes had to be made and met and, finally, to the visitors who had to re-evaluate and change their riding styles slightly to conserve their precious local riding area.

So the idea of the Appreciation Day seemed like its time had come. Joe Ramos, our Carnegie Superintendent, led the charge with his enthusiasm. The Horne Family – Skip, Lynn and George graciously donated their Hillclimb facility. Tony and Vicki Shipman at Moto-Mart then stepped up to start the ball rolling. And roll it did. Joe Ramos, true to the State’s new mantra of a partnership
between the Public and Private sectors , reached out to the folks who have been putting on this type of events for years. The AMA and AMA District 36 worked hand-in-hand with Joe and Carnegie Forever to organize vendors, exhibits and demonstrations. The turnout was nothing short of incredible; the entire floor of the Hill Climb area was filled with 25 cycle vendor displays, spectators, visitors and families!

The atmosphere was reminiscent of an Old Time County Fair, except the rides were FREE! The vendors provided stickers, brochures and swag. AMA District 36 provided free sound testing and muffler packing if needed. Four-wheel clubs were in abundance to celebrate the opening of their new driving area. The State brought some cool displays of the kinds of critters that share and play (mostly at night) in our 1500 acres.

Finally, the best part of the day came after the very impressive 1000cc hillclimb demonstration when the Zero Electric Motorcycle Company (they gave demo rides all day) was gracious enough to allow 4 of Carnegie’s top riders to try the electric bike on the hillclimb. Pete and Petey Krunich (past Widowmaker Hillclimb champs), Kacy Martinez (X Games, WORCS and AMA 2009 Woman Athlete) and Joe Shipman (NAHA hillclimber) assembled to attack the infamous 400 foot Carnegie hillside on an electric motorcycle. The crowd was digging it, not really believing these “sewing machines on steroids” were really up to the task. They should have known better! Pete blasted (albeit quietly) up the hill the very first time, followed by the always smiling Kacy. The Zero sales representative was as surprised as the crowd. Pete was heard to say “I got’a have one of these in my garage!” followed by “that thing did a baby wheelie all the way up the hill”! Pretty amazing finish to a totally amazing day.

The bottom line is that this event was a perfect example of what can and MUST be done to support continued growth at Carnegie, and our other CA OHV Parks. Administrators, rangers, and maintenance personnel came together with the off-road community, represented by clubs, vendors, dealers, volunteers and associations. They put aside their own points of view and personal preferences. They all worked cooperatively for a common outcome, which turned out to be something bigger than the sum of
its parts, – plus it was a heck of a lot of fun!!

I know I’ll see you all and others at the 2nd Annual Carnegie Appreciation Day next year!

Sincerely,
Jerry Fouts
AMA Congress
District 36 Board of Directors

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.

(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.

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!

Six reasons for the importance of Carnegie Forever – Trevon, Christian, Nolan, Taylor, Nick and Jake. Photo taken on January 1, 2011.

This is the era of the Endangered Species. We have been told to raise our awareness and consider the importance of life and its symbiotic relationships.

Sometimes portions of our world get neglected in this shift of consciousness. For instance the six young men in the photo above were able to enjoy a day in nature, fresh air, and bonding with new friends. Some of their peers were possibly hanging out at the mall,
involved with drugs, sitting in front of a gaming device or bored out of their minds. The lucky kids in the photo are members of a non profit group that takes them on riding adventures to Carnegie State Park.

The reason they are endangered is because some people, for their own reasons, would prefer that this type of recreation does not exist for anyone let along theses youngsters. Their bedrock issue is that this type of activity destroys the environment. In some ways
they could be correct, but then again everything humanity does, uses land for some activity. The space for a hospital, a school, or a highway uses the environment for beneficial reasons even though it technically destroys the soils and ecosystems under it.

Our little park of about 1000 acres provides a benefit for 180,000 people of all ages, especially the young men and women that get a chance to come to our park for a day of recreation. Their entire day is not spent riding around but also, meeting new friends,
helping take care of the vehicles and also doing projects with the park staff. The park is managed and groomed every week and areas that need renovation are taken out of the inventory. There is a reasonable balance between fun and resource management at Carnegie.

So here are two questions:

1. Will the kids hanging at the mall or the kids in the above photo have the better memories of their childhood?
2. Will our organization, Carnegie Forever, never cease making sure our park stays open and provides an environment for ALL endangered species, especially the HUMANS, to flourish and prosper?

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.

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.

Christmas Greetings to all of the subscribers to our website.