As a 13-year-old, Kyle Pollak of Johnstown went undefeated to claim the 2008 Monster Supercross championship at Royal Mountain.,
If it were the 2009 season, Pollak would not have had to opportunity to complete the accomplishment.
On Feb. 10, legislation (S. 22, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act) was passed into law. A portion of the act restricts the amount of lead paint and other lead that can be in products sold for children 13 years old or younger.
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) is interpreted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to apply to various components of youth motorcycles and ATVs, including the engine, batter, brakes, suspension and other mechanical parts. The CPSC has ruled that machines under 85cc are considered toxic to the health of young children.
In a newsletter by Greg Robinson, Vice President of Marketing, Unadilla Motorsports, the move would effectively eliminate several youth classes from competition at American Motorcycle Association events. The Central New York Motocross Riders Association has stopped issuing licenses and numbers to riders under the age of 13.
"It will probably take the whole sport down in general because you are basically taking away half of the industry with the younger classes," said Pollak, who has been riding competitively since he was five-years-old. "If you can't ride until you are 14, a lot of the kids probably wouldn't get involved riding dirt bikes. If I couldn't ride, it would make me very unhappy. The young kids are the future of the sport. If I didn't get a chance to ride, I probably wouldn't be too good. A lot of the people today would not be as good if it wasn't for the young classes."
Motorcycle racing has become a local fixture in the summer with Royal Mountain Ski Center in Caroga Lake and Twister Valley Sports Complex in Fort Plain hosting events from May to October.
"I made a couple of phone calls and it is about lead being in the bike itself," said Jim Blaise owner of Royal Mountain. "It is something written in a bill without thinking about the ramifications. It has no bearing on bikes, but they somehow got included, which is ridiculous. I don't know a lot about it right now. A large portion of the riders are in the younger classes and it would put a serious damper on the racing. Apparently it has already gone through. Now they we are trying to get an exemption."
Royal Mountain draws more than 200 riders to its weekly Monster SuperCross events during the summer and more than 500 riders to special CNYMRA weekend events.
Twister Valley hosts racing events, primarily on Friday nights but is also open to family riding and practice during the week.
"At Royal Mountain on a Saturday event it [the youth rider count] is about a third, at my Friday night events it is about three quarters of the riders," Fred Mang, owner of Twister Valley, said. "I built this business around the kids and the track was designed for kids. My big mainstay on Friday night is kids under 12. That means all of the kids will sit in front of the TV and play video games."
Mang said, as a parent, he understands the purpose behind the bill.
"Lead poisoning is a serious issue and it effects everybody but not to the extent it does young kids," he said. "It is more of an issue with kids who are chewing on toys. The way the law was written is that it is for anything sold for a child, including dirt bikes and ATVs. There is also an issue in all the things the kids wear for protection."
The issue is connected to recent recalls on toys and products imported from overseas with lead content in the paint used for toys and other products intended for sale to kids.
"President [George W.] Bush signed a bill into law in August of last year and the Consumer Product Safety Commision had up to Feb. 10 to come up with a plan and they didn't come up with a plan," Mang said. "They left it up to the manufacturers to comply. It can be done. Cobra dirt bikes do comply with the law and are legal for sale. There is also a mini quad that is in total compliance with the law. The larger companies haven't got anything done yet. It takes a larger company longer to do something and that is what almost everybody rides are the big manufacturer bikes."
Greg House of PowerHouse Motorsports received notification of the bill from Polaris and Kawasaki, two of the brands he sells at the Mayfield business.
The Polaris notification eluded to the situation and stated that Polaris products meet the lead paint requirements. However, Polaris has not completed testing to show that all our its youth products meet the lead content limit because of the hundreds of parts that need testing.
"They [CPSC] went to the manufacturers and they asked about the lead content and it is on all the ATVs. The 90s [90cc] are good and the 170s are good," House said. "The 50ccs are 6 years of age and older. With Polaris and Kawasaki they meet or exceed the requirements for the total unit as it is built. But, what they did was they came to them and asked for the lead content of each individual part of the unit. Nobody has that and it's something they cannot amass overnight. So they have had to stop the sale of until they can take each of their youth products, 90ccs or less, and break it down to get approval."
Mang said, "There are only a few places where there is lead in a bike. The valve stems, the ball ends on the end of the cables and in the process of making the engine cases. In order for a child to get sick on them, they would have to chew on them or basically chew on their bikes. They [CSRC] were supposed to figure this out and ran out of time. So they just said anything sold to kids under 12 has to be certified or you can't sell it. That is where the panic set in."
The impact of the bill could reach beyond the local race tracks and into the local economy.
"Motocross at Royal Mountain and Twister Valley bring outside money into the community," Mang said. "The local businesses in town, like Stewart's, don't need my schedule. They know when I am running from their cash register receipts. They see an uptake in business."
Local riders and supporters of the sport are looking to get a waiver for the upcoming season by contacting local legislators with a letter-writing campaign.
"One thing I heard is there is a waiver on someone's desk where you go to a dealership and you sign a waiver saying that you know there is lead in the bike and it might make my kid sick," Mang said. "The other is that they are talking about a one-year extension to give the manufacturers a chance to get their machines legal. Things are getting done on this issue. I think that before the snow is gone, this can be resolved. We sent out an e-mail to everyone on our list and the AMA has a thing on their site that gives you a form letter to send to the congressmen. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has asked people to be patient. They are trying to work things out."
