New Motorcycle Event at the Quail in May

By Michael T. Lynch

In 2003, a new event was added to the August Monterey Peninsula Automotive Festival Week, The Quail–“A Motorsports Gathering.” Since then, this brilliant combination of cars, cuisine, celebrities and cognoscenti, set on the verdant grass of the golf course that is part of the Quail Lodge Resort and Golf Club, has become the hottest ticket during the week, with a sellout taking place each January in less than two hours. The Management of that event hopes to repeat their success with its premier all-motorcycle concours on Saturday, May 9th.

Two wheel sporting machinery has been seen there before, as The Quail has had a motorcycle class since the beginning. Since motorcycling is often a family sport, the attractions of the Monterey Peninsula will offer unlimited recreational opportunities for all ages before and after the Quail Motorcycle Gathering. The area is well-known for the hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking trails of several major parks, and the area known as Big Sur. Ten minutes away is the village of Carmel-by-the-Sea with its storybook architecture, white sand beaches and upscale shops and galleries. A bit farther is the Monterey Aquarium, now the second largest tourist draw in California after Disneyland. There are also numerous championship-caliber golf courses in the area, including the Quail Lodge’s own course.

The schedule will include a Friday, May 8 motorcycle tour over some of the most scenic roads in America, including the Big Sur coast, redolent of writers Jack London, Henry Miller and Jack Kerouac. The tour will include breakfast, lunch and dinner prepared by Quail Lodge’s renowned Chef de Cuisine, Jeff Rogers, and his culinary crew. The dinner will feature guest speakers as well as a collectable motorcycle display. Space on the tour is limited to 40 participants and this will be a ride not to be forgotten. To reserve a space, or for other information, contact Courtney Porras at 831 620-8899.

Besides motorcycles, the event will showcase vendors with wares of interest to attendees and in keeping with the ambience of the day. The $65 admission includes a complementary Bar-B-Q lunch with all the trimmings. Since the Quail Lodge adjoins the fields of Earthbound Farms, world’s largest producer of organic foods, you can be sure the produce will be fresh.

Guests at The Quail Motorcycle Gathering will also be admitted to a Bonhams and Butterfields auction of rare and desirable motorcycles with many of the bikes being sold with no reserve. The auction will include memorabilia, including some automotive items. The catalog will be available online in advance of the sale at Bonhams.

In keeping with the collegial atmosphere of Quail motorsport events, the motorcycles will be judged by other class entrants, assuring a low pressure show with a great deal of camaraderie. The entrant selection committee encourages restored, unrestored and barn find motorcycles of interest to connoisseurs. The new event will be laid out on a manicured driving range nestled in a canyon of the Santa Lucia range. The inland location is shielded from the area’s pesky coastal fog and also from the dreaded salt-bearing ocean mist which can damage the fine machinery. The Quail Motorcycle Gathering is poised to take its place among the world’s most prestigious motorcycle events.