The Board of Directors of Maricopa County, Arizona has revoked the operating permits for the Arizona Motorsports Park (AMP) located in Litchfield Park, Arizona. This has left a major lack of accessibility for motorcyclists to push the limits of their chosen sport. Maricopa County has one of the largest and certainly most diverse groups of motorcyclists in the country. More importantly, the track was supported by the Honda Motor Corporation, Porsche, WERA, SCCA, a local motorcycle trackday company along with other national and international motorsports companies. The lack of their presence in the valley will be felt not only from an image standpoint, but economically as well. The potential to inject copious revenue to area service industries was tremendous with regularly scheduled racing and testing within a variety of racing formats. One only has to look at the success of Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) for their obvious success. Unfortunately, PIR does not have a dedicated road course for motorcycle, sports car and open wheel vehicle testing. We agree with the Board that Arizona Motorsports Park owners did not agree to the terms of their permits. But, there were no previsions set forth by the Board to have AMP owners become compliant or create a revised application for permit. Our concern is that the Board of Supervisors overstepped their authority by not allowing for true public opinion or rebuttal. Instead, the Board effectively closed AMP without recourse.

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