First Annual Monterey Motorcycle Meet

Another Motorized Festival on the Monterey Peninsula

By Michael T. Lynch

Since the Monterey Historic Automobile Races and the Pebble Beach Concours were scheduled on the same weekend in 1973, a week long automotive festival including vintage races, concours, public and private parties, tours and many other events has been created.
Two organizers, Burt Richmond and David Gross, conceived an ambitious program that resulted in the beginnings of a similar situation in the week preceding the MotoGP, a round of the motorcycle road racing World Championship held at Laguna Seca on July 20th.

Richmond and Gross’ concept became the 1st Annual Monterey Motorcycle Meet and began Saturday the 12th with the Moto Concorso, presented by the Vintage Ducati Club on Monterey’s Custom House Plaza, home to the oldest government building in California. This showcased a fantastic mix of mostly Italian classic and modern motorcycles including a vintage 3-wheeler reminiscent of Anthony Quinn’s ride in the Fellini’s neo-realistic masterpiece, La Strada. The miniscule van even had an operating espresso bar.

That evening, America’s premier motorcycle auction house, MidAmerica Auctions, held a sale in the Monterey Convention Center. There was a delectable choice of motorcycles to choose from, but the headline-maker was a 1915 Cyclone board track racer that sold for a high bid of $520,000, not including buyer’s premium.

Sunday morning saw the start of Motogiro America, a five-day tour centered on the class for vintage bikes up the 175cc, the limit in the original Giro. There were also other classes, including one for modern touring bikes. The original Motogiro was an open road race first held as a reliability trial in 1914 and revived for three years in the 1920s. The event saw its golden age from 1953-1957 when Italy finally achieved post-World War II prosperity, and those editions could be considered a two-wheel version of the automotive Mille Miglia, featuring flat out city-to-city racing on public roads.

Like the car event, the Motogiro was stopped after Spanish Marquis Alfonso de Portago’s car went into the crowd in the 1957 Mille Miglia, killing him, his co-driver and nine spectators. The Mille Miglia returned as a nostalgic touring event in 1977, as did the Motogiro in 2001. Since then, enthusiasts from all over the world have brought their vintage bikes to Italy to enjoy the camaraderie, scenery, and food and wine that make the Motogiro so memorable.

Motogiro USA began on Monterey’s Cannery Row, once a long row of sardine factories whose odor repelled visitors, but now a tourist Mecca of restaurants, shops, hotels and wine tasting rooms. From Cannery Row, the participants proceeded to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for leisurely laps of the course before continuing their loop through the scenic central coast area, returning to the Hyatt Regency in Monterey that evening. Some course changes were required because of the forest fires raging in the area, but the tour continued Tuesday to Paso Robles, further south on Highway 101. After two nights in Paso Robles, with daily tours of the area’s attractions, the group returned to Monterey for a Thursday evening awards dinner.

To say that the participants enjoyed the event is an understatement. The praise heaped on Richmond and Gross by the entrants was reminiscent of a Russian politburo meeting praising Stalin in the 1950s, only much more heartfelt. After a few glasses of wine, the brothers and sisters of the road assured each other that they would share the local roads and Motogiro experience here again next year. The next day, the MotoGP weekend began.

This year’s season has been a battle between Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha, Dani Pedrosa’s Honda and last year’s champion, Casey Stoner’s Ducati. Pedrosa wasn’t competing because of injury and Stoner had won the last three races. He also dominated practice and qualifying. Stoner and Rossi were on the front row of the grid along with American Nicky Hayden, who won the first two MotoGPs at Laguna as well as the 2006 World Championship.

At the start it became apparent that the battle would be between Stoner and Rossi. They traded the lead for the first few laps and the racing was breathtaking, with the riders executing feet-up two wheel drifts and the bikes squirming under acceleration and braking. Rossi misjudged the corkscrew on lap seven, getting on the dirt on the inside. When he came back on the course, he forced Stoner wide, but both collected themselves and continued. Stoner had an advantage on the uphill section from five thru six and up the hill to the corkscrew, but Rossi led most of the way. The tension broke on lap 24 when Stoner, right on Rossi’s rear wheel, got loose under braking going into the last turn, number 11. Stoner’s turn entry was too hot and he ran off into the gravel on the outside, dropping the bike. He kept it running, lifted it and was able to continue.

His battle with Rossi had carried them so far from the competition that Stoner retained 2nd position to the finish. Hayden faded to 5th with tire problems, and was the first American across the line. Rossi had not won at Laguna Seca before and had sometimes complained about the track. To make amends with the locals, after he took the checkered flag, Rossi stopped at the corkscrew on his victory lap, dismounted and got on his hands and knees and kissed the course. Always the showman, Rossi made even more fans that day.

Rossi now leads Stoner by 25 points, with eight events left to go, including a second U.S. Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 14. If the race is half as good as the Laguna Seca battle, it will be considered a classic. It’s a vintage season, with the seasoned Champion in Rossi trying holding off his younger challenger Stoner, who already has a Championship under his belt. There is also the stylish Italian Ducati vs. the Yamaha rice burner story line to inflame the tifosi. See you at Indianapolis. After that, I’ve got to find an Italian tiddler for next year’s Giro.