First of two motorcycle festivals coming to Vegas

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 1999 | 11:01 a.m.

Organizers of the World Bike Expo say their inaugural festival planned early next month at Sam Boyd Stadium isn't a bid to upstage a bigger motorcycle event planned for October 2000.

Socrates Kostas, who is staging the World Bike Expo Oct. 8-10, said it was coincidental that his group is planning to draw 50,000 people to Las Vegas nearly a year to the date in advance of the inaugural Las Vegas International Bike Week and Expo 2000, set for Oct. 13-15, 2000.

The three-day motorcycle event in 2000 has ambitions of drawing more than 100,000 people to the city. Organizers say they welcome the World Bike Expo to become a part of the inaugural Las Vegas International Bike Week and Expo 2000.

Kostas said he plans to make the World Bike Expo an annual event and schedule it in conjunction with the International Bike Week next year.

Las Vegas Events, working in conjunction with co-producers Paul Barrow, Dean Gordon and Lisa Tenner of BGT Productions, Las Vegas, announced plans for the International Bike Week in May.

Kostas said his event has been in the planning stages for about two years and is not a copy of the International Bike Expo 2000, "even though portions of the two events seem to be similar."

"I have been in Ohio working on the World Bike Expo and was not aware of the Las Vegas event," Kostas said. "The International Bike Expo was brought to my attention for the first time when a friend sent me a newspaper article written last May."

The primary differences between the two events are size and location. The World Bike Expo is expected to be smaller, staged on about 100 acres surrounding the stadium near Henderson.

The International Bike Week event is expected to be spread over a longer time frame and in multiple venues in the Las Vegas area.

But the activities planned at the two events are similar.

Kostas said the World Bike Expo would include motorcycle stunt team performances, live music, a hot and spicy food festival and exhibits and displays by motorcycle manufacturers.

"One of the distinguishing features of the World Bike Expo is that it was designed to be an event that is open to everyone," Kostas said. "No one motorcycle brand should dominate the event. No one group should be ruling. Senior citizens riding as husband and wife should be able to mingle with the younger rider that may have a pierced eyebrow.

"Why not? They are all on two wheels. They all ride for similar reasons. This is the 'world' in World Bike Expo."

The motorcycle stunt riders will include the Globe of Death Fusion Riders, who ride in different directions within a steel wire globe, Team Extreme, which rides over obstacle courses, and Doug Danger, who will attempt to break Robbie Knievel's motorcycle jumping record by leaping over 18 big rig tractors.

Several motorcycle organizations will be represented and keynote speakers for the event include Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch; Bill Bish, executive coordinator of Aid to Injured Motorcyclists and the National Coalition of Motorcyclists; and Jim Utterback, State of Nevada Rider Motorcycle Safety Program.

Survivalist and motorcycle enthusiast Bo Gritz also is expected to speak at the event.

Las Vegas radio station KXTE FM-107.5 is coordinating the musical entertainment for the event. Promotions director Carly Johnston of the station said performances are planned by Sevendust, Coal Chamber, Machinehead, Slipnot, Static X, Powerman 5000, Incubus and the Kottonmouth Kings.

Tickets are available in advance through Oct. 7 at Thomas & Mack Center outlets and from Tickets.com. Advanced tickets are $16 per day or $23 per day at the gate. The event will run daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Concerts, stunt shows, celebrity challenges and try-it-yourself activities centered around motorcycle themes are planned at the International Bike Week event next year.

Riding events -- a "Poker Run" and a "Keno Run" -- also will be conducted.

Barrow and Gordon, co-producers of the International Bike Week, are Britons who recently produced the largest reggae festival ever conducted in Africa.

They say plans for the 2000 motorcycle event are progressing better than they had expected and they have no problems with Kostas' World Bike Expo hooking up with their event next year.

"It's phenomenal," Barrow said of the response BGT Productions has received from the nationwide biking community toward the 2000 event. "We've had bike clubs calling us every day telling us they want to have their conventions during the expo. They say, 'We're always looking for a good excuse to come to Vegas,' so we're expecting a lot of people here."

Barrow said the 100,000 attendance figure is a realistic projection.

"Actually, with the response we've been getting, we figure we may have to limit attendance," Barrow said.