DATE: Saturday, August 9, 1997              TAG: 9708090329

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   53 lines

INNKEEPERS NIX PLAN FOR BEACH BIKER RALLY

The Virginia Beach Hotel and Motel Association's board of directors this week splashed cold water on a resort tavern owner's plan to hold a charity rally for 20,000 bikers at the Oceanfront next spring.

The board members voted against the plan, association president James H. Capps said, because they ``felt we just couldn't handle the numbers.''

John Riley, owner of Hammerhead's Surf Bar & Grill in the 2100 block of Atlantic Avenue, said the board's action probably seals the fate of the rally.

``I guess it's a dead issue,'' he said. ``There are a lot of hotel owners in favor of it. I think they're making a big mistake.''

Capps said the innkeepers' board solicited information from resorts, among them Myrtle Beach, S.C., which has hosted biker rallies for the past few years.

``Their contention was that we probably wouldn't want to get into the biker business,'' he said. ``Using their numbers and factoring them in, we just said, `Hey, if 20,000 bikers came here, we couldn't handle it.' ''

Riley, a Harley Davidson motorcycle enthusiast, envisioned an annual spring gathering of bikers at the Oceanfront as an early cash infusion for the city's tourist season. A portion of the revenues from a weekend rally would have been given to the Leukemia Society of America.

He made his pitch at a July 17 general meeting of the innkeepers' association, but was told by Capps that the members would have to take the proposal under study. The next general meeting of the association will be held in mid-September.

While the membership could override the board's stand, past experience has shown that this rarely happens. Despite the vote, Riley said, he is thinking about moving the rally elsewhere.

``If I can't get Atlantic Avenue, I guess I could do it somewhere else,'' he said. ``I want to do something with the Beach. My home is here and my business is here. I don't want to take it to Norfolk, but I might have to.''

Said Capps: ``I know he (Riley) feels bad about it. I feel bad about it, too, because here's a guy from the private sector who wanted to help us.''

In making his presentation to innkeepers in July, Riley said similar biker rallies - with far larger turnouts - are held each year in Daytona Beach, Fla., Myrtle Beach and Sturgis, S.D., with positive financial results.

For instance, he said, a recent rally in Myrtle Beach brought an estimated $43.7 million in revenue to the coastal resort. More than 200,000 bikers attended the last Daytona rally.

Riley, a graduate of Princess Anne High School and Virginia Tech, says he has staged mini-biker rallies at the Oceanfront in the past two years with no fanfare. He had the blessings of a resort hotel owner, who agreed to let visiting cyclists assemble in his parking lots. More than 650 bikers attended the first year and 1,000 the second.

Riley said the gatherings raised $2,000 the first year for the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia and $3,000 the second year for the Special Olympics.

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