CMRA racer Larry Locklear has been arrested and is being held by the Dallas Police Department on motorcycle theft charges. According to CMRA Board of Directors member Eric Kelcher, Locklear was arrested in Mineral Wells, Texas the week after he finished 13th in the Formula USA Sportbike race at Daytona. Locklear was found in possession of a stolen motorcycle, arrested and charged. Locklear is still being held and Dallas Police are attempting to arrest others in what they believe is a ring of motorcycle thieves and stolen-parts dealers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Kelcher told Roadracing World on March 19 that CMRA officials do not tolerate bike thieves and will provide the VIN numbers of racebikes–collected during tech inspection–and rider information to police when asked.

In 1998, a stolen vehicle task force consisting of Dallas-Fort Worth law enforcement officials stormed Oak Hill Raceway during a CMRA event on a tip that they would find specific bike thieves and stolen motorcycles. After blocking the exit of the facility so that the VIN numbers of every motorcycle on site could be checked, police only found one confirmed-stolen bike and that machine had been ridden to the race by a spectator.

However, police impounded several machines when their riders could no prove ownership or when engine numbers did not match the VIN number. Riders went through a lengthy process to get their racebikes back, and, in one case, the machine had been left out in an open impound lot for weeks in the meantime, and suffered severe corrosion damage.

Following the event and resulting uproar, police officials began working with the Texas-based CMRA in an attempt to learn more about racebikes–including Grand Prix racebikes–which may or may not have original VIN numbers, frames or original engines.

The Dallas Police could not be reached for comment at post time.