Salinas motels to be tougher to find next year

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/local/12167885.htm

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted on Tue, Jul. 19, 2005CYCLE RACE, RODEO WILL WORK TOGETHERBoth events will take place on the same weekend next yearBy KEVIN HOWE and VICTORIA MANLEYHerald Staff WritersIt can be done. It will be done.That was the message of officials at the California Rodeo Salinas and theSports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula who face theprospect of putting on two huge events in the same week within eight milesof each other.But from July 20 to 23 next year, it's going to be crowded in MontereyCounty. Really crowded.Get-out-of-town-if-you-can crowded.On one end there will be an estimated 50,000 or more cowboys and cowfanskicking up dust over the course of the California Rodeo Salinas.On the other, another 50,000 or more motorcyclists and motofans will swarmMazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey each day for the MotoGP WorldChampionship Series.They'll happen on the same weekend because the rodeo and the motorcycle raceare stops in a series of events, the professional rodeo circuit and theinternational motorcycle racing championships, and any change here wouldrequire changes elsewhere.The rodeo, which opens a four-day run on Thursday, has been a tradition inSalinas since 1911. While the rodeo board had considered changing its 2006dates to avoid conflict with next year's Red Bull Grand Prix, it decided togo ahead with the original schedule, July 20-23, said rodeo President TomPettitt.The motorcycle event returned to Monterey County last weekend for its firstU.S. appearance since 1994. It is set to take place in Monterey Countyannually through 2009, but rodeo and Laguna Seca officials say the two bigevents won't overlap in future years. Scheduling of the Red Bull race nextyear was dictated by the scheduling of the World Cup soccer championships."It's just to 2006," said Gill Campbell, general manager of Mazda LagunaSeca Raceway. "We're very much like the rodeo. They're subject to a nationalseries and circuit; we're subject to an international series and datescheduling. We had no choice but to go with this date."Campbell and Sally Hamana, marketing coordinator for the rodeo, said thesponsoring organizations plan to get together to see what needs to be doneto make both events work."They're just going into their event," Campbell said. "We're just gettingout of ours. We'll get together once this weekend is over."The good thing is we have 12 months. If we jump on it right away, dealingwith all the challenges, we'll have no problems whatsoever."Hamana said the two organizations will be "getting coordinated, not inopposition."Rodeo officials were reluctant to upset the Pro Rodeo schedule over aone-time conflict, Hamana said, an action that could have endangeredCalifornia Rodeo Salinas' place on the tour."Preplanning and hard work," she added, "will get us over it."Juxtaposing the events will have an impact on two-lane Monterey-SalinasHighway, said Jeff Morgan, assistant transportation planning engineer forthe Transportation Agency for Monterey County, but he said racing officialsdid a good job with this year's traffic plan.Traffic in and out of Laguna Seca was slow but through traffic onMonterey-Salinas Highway "was not bad," Morgan said.While this year's motorcycle event slammed area hotels and motels, theconfluence of events next year may not make things appreciably worse sincethe rodeo draws more of a local crowd, officials agreed. But even a repeatof this year's competition for hotel space will fray some nerves."It's a tough situation," said Brenda Roncarati, president/CEO of theMonterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce. "At this point, it looks like a rockand a hard place."Some hotels, including Portola Plaza Hotel and Monterey Beach Hotel, arealready booked solid for the event weekend next year, Roncarati said. Manyrace fans checking out of rooms last weekend made reservations for next yearon their way out, she said.Concern also remains about a potential shortage of volunteers, since bothevents rely on unpaid staff to perform many of the basic functions."The trick to this is going to be giving everyone a heads-up early on,"Hamana said. "There's no reason they can't do both."