‘Cycle Cops Head for Willow Springs Raceway

At 6-4, 215 pounds, Bill Justice is a walking cliche.

Not that he’s a boring. Not that he doesn’t have a sense of humor. But almost every day, Justice hears cracks concerning his name. Someone is always mumbling, “It figures.”

Justice is a motorcycle cop. And it figures.

“After 11 years on the job, you get oblivious to the comments,” Justice said. “Sometimes people will say something about it and I’ll say I’ve heard that one already. I do get some original ones sometimes.”

What the comments have lost, the thrill of the job has restored. Mainly, it gives him the chance to do something he loves: ride motorcycles. This weekend, he got the chance to race one.

Justice, of Calabasas, is one of 40 riders entered in the Police Olympic World Motorcycle Road Racing Championships at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond. The event began Friday and concludes today with a The Race of Nations. The United States holds a 13-point lead in the standings and is favored to win the championship.

Nineteen top police riders from 10 countries--Canada entered only one rider--will compete in the 10-lap Race of Nations on the 2.5-mile, nine-turn course. Officer Rick Williams of the Arizona Highway Patrol and Officer Charles Price of the Sacramento County Sheriffs Dept. will represent the United States.

Williams, an Arizona Highway Patrol instructor, won four events on Friday and holds the fastest lap time at 1:41.50, hitting speeds of more than 105 m.p.h.

It is the first time police officers of the world have gathered to display their riding skill. The entire concept was conceived and developed by Bruce Wilson and David Steele of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Wilson, who lives in Simi Valley and works out of the Hollywood Division, hopes to make the races a regular event at next year’s Police Olympics.

He isn’t a motorcycle cop, but Wilson still enjoys riding. He got the idea for the event several years ago when he and his buddies rented Willow Springs for riding.

“I fell in love with the motorcycle, fell in love with speed,” Wilson said. “But I couldn’t safely or legally do it on the street, so we rented the track for a day.”

The biggest problem was keeping the riders evenly matched, so Wilson contacted Keith Code of the California Superbike School. He agreed to provide enough identical motorcycles for the race.

After that, Wilson approached the Police Olympic Committee and had the event sanctioned. Then he spent 14 months more for organization and tryouts. Wilson ended up spending some of his own money along the way but said the event is worth the work. Track officials are estimating a crowd of 10,000 for today’s race.