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Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Run To Stop By Cape Girardeau

Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Run
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Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Run
The finish line will be at the corner of Merriwether and Spanish Street.

The Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Run is a cross-country endurance race for vintage or antique motorcycles, and it will come through Cape Girardeau on Tuesday, September 9th. A welcome party will await the riders at the finish line.

One-hundred-and-ten riders from all over the world and the United States will compete in the race, with some of them coming from countries as far away as Poland, Italy and South Africa.

“It’s truly an international event and it’s an endurance ride for both the motorcycle and the rider,” said Danny Essner, chairman of the Motorcycle Cannonball welcome party committee.

The Cannonball Run starts in Daytona Beach, Fl. on Friday, September 5th and ends in Tacoma, Wa. on Sunday, September 21st. The newest motorcycle in this year’s event will be a 1936 motorcycle and all the others will be older models.

On Tuesday, the riders’ day will kick off the race’s fifth day in Clarksville, Tenn., and they will arrive in Cape Girardeau from the east.

“The Cannonball riders will be coming across the bridge from Illinois. When they get to the River Campus they are going to turn north on Fountain street, they will go to William, then they will go down to Spanish and then they will turn north on Spanish and they will ride up to the finish line,” Essner said. “The finish line will be at the corner of Merriwether and Spanish Street.”

As the riders cross the finish line, a commentary about them and their bikes will be broadcasted. The welcome party will be located on Spanish Street, between Merriwether and Themis Streets and will last from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. A sound system and vendors will be around to entertain the public, who will also have the opportunity to visit with the riders and get to know more about them.

In addition to the riders participating to the race, the committee also invited local motorcycle owners to attend the welcome party.

“We expect to have 30 to 50 local antique motorcycles and we expect to have several hundred late models, contemporary motorcycles, at the event,” Essner added.

At 6:45 p.m. the bikers will depart Spanish Street and travel down Broadway to Kingshighway. Essner said the parade will be a good time to see the bikes in action.

Cape Girardeau hosted the Great Race last year and the event’s success convinced John Classen, who plans the route for the Cannonball Race, to bring the antique motorcycles through the city this year.

“He was very happy with the welcome party that Cape Girardeau put together for the Great Race and he asked us if we would consider doing the same thing this year for the Motorcycle Cannonball and we said we’d love to,” Essner said.

Marine Perot was a KRCU reporter for KRCU in 2014.