Published: March 19, 2009 09:12 am      

MotoCross kicks off this weekend

By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer

The whine of motorcycle engines will fill the air again this weekend at the Daniel Boone MotoCross track west of London on KY 80.

Under new owner, Rick Teague, of Jacksboro, Tenn., the track has been completely renovated.

Teague said the track itself has been expanded from nine-tenths of a mile to a mile and three-tenths.

A new supercross track connects with the motocross track

Teague said he expects about 400 riders for the two-day event that opens the season.

Thus far, some 21 race weekends have been scheduled to run through the summer, Teague said and he expects 150 to 200 riders each race weekend.

The facility has new grandstands and new concession areas as well.

This Sunday will see an interesting event, as Missouri State Representative Tom Self appears to discuss the effect the new lead level standards in toys will have on the motocross industry.

In February, Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

That act limits the amount of lead found in children’s toys and affects the industry because the small 50cc and 65cc motorbikes used by young people in the sport can no longer be sold because of their lead content.

The act has left dealers with inventory of the bikes that can’t legally be sold. Teague said one London dealer has about 13 that can’t be sold and a Corbin dealer has about 50.

The lead content provision applies not only to the bikes, but to all toys.

Self has started a campaign to have the Consumer Product Safety Commission exempt the motorbikes and has raised about 70,000 signatures on a petition to the commission, according to his Web site.

Teague said if the ban on selling the kid-sized bikes continues, there will be no youngsters and not many adults in the sport’s future.

He added that adult riders have usually gotten their experience as children.

Not only are youth ATV and motorbike makers and marketers worried about the effects of the act, but also librarians, thrift stores and bicycle makers.

A March 5 story in The Hill, a publication that monitors Congress, said the commission has received “thousands and thousands and thousands of complaints about the new law.”

Not only are toys, ATVs and motorbikes affected, but also books. Before 1985, ink in books contained traces of lead and the commission is trying to decide if the law would apply to books published before that year.