RAMA SLAMA: City of Rochester successfully upends Fairgrounds motorcycle race

Flat track motorcycle riders await the starting gun at a recent race. (Courtesy photo)

ROCHESTER - This Saturday afternoon the Rochester Fairground grandstand should've been packed with thousands of motorcycle racing fans, but the city's planning department, the city attorney and Rochester leadership used bureaucratic red tape and the courts to scrap it.
Now the promoter of the AMA Vintage National Series flat track motorcycle race, which was approved by Rochester's Zoning Board of Adjustment in September, is left holding the bag.
Megan O'Connell, owner of SOS Racing Promotions, told The Rochester Voice on Tuesday that the City of Rochester threw so much red tape and capricious regulatory demands at such a late date, she had no choice but to cancel Saturday's race.
"I had to cancel the race, because by the time we learned that a court order had allowed us to move forward, it was too late," she said. "We weren't able to advertise it properly in advance."
For the Rochester Agricultural and Mechanical Association, the owners of the Fairgrounds, it was just seen as another attempt by the City of Rochester to demonetize RAMA, the organization that puts on the Granite State Fair every year and which relies on nonfair events revenue to keep them afloat.
Because O'Connell had to call off the race, she has had to shell out money for ticket holders who want their money back from the scheduled race.
"A lot of folks agreed to have their tickets swapped for a race we'll have during The Granite State Fair in September, but other wanted their money back," she said
O'Connell said she'll have to pay them back in full, of course but her company will have to pay the credit and debit card fees, which are usually around 3 or 4 percent.
The ZBA OK'd the June 21 race last September, because the event was held yearly at the Fairgrounds back in the '90s and early 2,000s, and was recognized as a "grandfathered" event.
But when O'Connell was busy lining up the race's permits this spring, including working with the city over appropriate fire and police coverage, they unexpectedly sent her a notice of denial, because they needed an extensive and untenable site plan review at such a late date.
Since it was a grandfathered event, meaning it had been a regular attraction at the Fairgrounds in the past, it shouldn't have needed that, said RAMA Attorney Marcia Brown of Brown Law.
Brown filed an injunction arguing that canceling the race would do substantial and irreparable harm to RAMA. A Strafford Superior Court judge found that to be true and rendered his decision on March 10, but by then it was too late, O'Connell said.
"When the decision came in so late, I knew I couldn't promote the event," she added.
The Rochester Agricultural and Mechanical Association, known as RAMA, is the longtime organizer of the Granite State Fair, formerly called the Rochester Fair, which began its run at the fairgrounds in 1874.

During the court battle for the injunction by RAMA Rochester City Attorney Terence O'Rourke argued that the flat track racing event was no longer a "grandfathered" event because the racing took a hiatus in 2008 after a 15-year run, because the race promoter was in "declining health."
He argued that after a year the "grandfather rights" go away.
However, the flat track racing event, like dozens of other one-day events such as cover band concerts, Phantom Gourmet barbecue and Parrot Head events "have been declined by the City of Rochester for the last several years due to the city's apparent attempt to demonetize the fair, so it can force RAMA to sell the property to the city, which has been eyeing the land for city development for more than 10 years.
It should also be noted that when Rochester's Zoning Board of Adjusted approved the "grandfathered" motorcycle event, they approved it without restrictions or further hoops to jump through to move forward.
Brown has stressed all along that RAMA needs to have more nonfair events so they can maintain the 72-acre fairgrounds, noting they don't make nearly enough from the Granite State Fair to keep the fairgrounds property afloat.
During the September meeting O'Connell said that the Rochester Fair location and its half-mile oval is known internationally among flat track motorcycle racing enthusiasts.
The good news is that Flat Track Motorcycle Racing will return to the Fairgrounds during this September's Granite State Fair.
O'Connell is hoping to schedule the race on Sept. 13 in the early afternoon.
She said there will be 16 different classes and about 100 riders.
The Rochester Voice reached out to O'Rourke and planning department chief Seth Creighton, who wrote the denial letter.
Both refused comment.
To get more info on SOS Racing scheduling click here.
To view the letter of denial from Creighton's office obtained by The Rochester Voice click here,