After 3294 miles on the road on pre-1916 motorcycles there are no written words to express the joy and pride of all the participants who arrived on the Santa Monica Pier this Sunday at 1 pm. A huge digital ovation from me and from all my readers. Let’s not forget those that I know by name who made this wonderful event possible, especially its creator Lonnie Isam Jr., John Classen who plotted out the 16-stage route, all the supporting crews for their dedication and expertise, Felicia Morgan for keeping us updated, all the sponsors who welcomed riders at stage arrival and all unknown spectators who lent a hand to help participants fix their bikes and get back on the road. And the winners are:
Overall Winner: Brad Wilmarth On Excelsior 1913. Perfect Score: All Miles Ridden with Oldest year Motorcycle Versus 2nd With Perfect Score.
Winner 
Class 1: Katrin Boehner On J.A.P. 1907 (Class of single cylinder, single speed bikes with belt drive or chain) : Received Cannonball Bronze created by Jeff Decker.
Class 1: Katrin Boehner On J.A.P. 1907 (Class of single cylinder, single speed bikes with belt drive or chain) : Received Cannonball Bronze created by Jeff Decker.Winner Class 2: Bradford P. Wilmarth On Excelsior 1913 (Class of twins and four cylinders, single speed bikes with belt drive or chain) : Received painting “Baker Cannon Ball” by David Uhl (bottom picture)
Winner Class 3: Rick McMaken On Harley-Davidson 1915 (Class of single, twins and four cylinders with 2 or 3-speed transmissions) : Received painting “Winner’ Table” by David Uhl (top picture)
During the event you asked me over and over if there will be a new edition of the Cannonball Endurance Run in 2011. For now, no answer from the organizers. I end this post by reminding everybody who was Erwin G. “Cannon Ball” Baker. Baker started to race motorcycles in 1908. He was famous for making 143 motorcycle rides across the United States totaling about 5,500,000 miles (8,850,000 km), starting way back in 1914. That trip was on an Indian motorcycle and took a whopping 14 days. He was a legendary racer (cars & motorcycles and would later become the first commissioner of NASCAR and is an inductee in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame since 1998. He died of a heart attack in 1960 in Indianapolis.All Cannonball arrival pictures for Cyril Huze Blog copyright Michael Lichter.
Motorcycle Cannonball class 1 first place finisher Katrin Boehner of Germany crosses the finish line on her 1907 JAP Motorcycle.
Jim Petty crosses the finish line on his1915 Indian followed by Cristine Sommer-Simmons on her 1915 Harley-Davidson
Dale Walksler on his 1915 Harley Davidson, David Kleptz also on his 1915 Harley Davidson and Sean Brayton on his 1911 Indian cross the finish line .Final Ranking & Standings At Arrival In Santa Monica Below Pictures.
I think this is awesome,hope it has the support to continue every year.Heck I would like to do it.Hope the guy that went into Headshake and got hurt is doing alright.I drag race Harleys,and I think this is fascinating!A tribute to old world craftmanship.You know Harley had four-valve cylinder heads back then!!
Thanks for the great coverage!
My hat is off to all of the riders and crews
Get some rest you earned it
Speechless. Beautiful event, beautiful bikers, beautiful machines. Thanks Cyril for covering this. The paintings and the pics are great.
UNBELIEVABLE!
From noon until to two witnessed Motorcycle history unfold on tje Santa Monica pier.
Extremely fortunate to have witnessed history unfold yesterday afternoon at the Finish Line. Was their to met and greet the riders and crew after their incredible journey.
My congratulations to all involved, quite a feat conquering a cross country trek on these incredible early machines.
The smell of hot oil and happy motorcycles surrounded by a life time of ear to ear smiles.
MOTORCYCLE HISTORY FIRST HAND, what an experience.
WOW!
Cyril. Best headline for Cannonball report.
I am not a vintage motorcycle aficionado, but I was at the Wright Brothers Monument in Kill Devil Hills, NC when these “warriors” left on Sept. 10th. A few had that “deer in the headlight” look upon departure, but they were cheered on by the crowd. I was so excited, and have kept up with the “run”. These men/women and their machines braved the elements, rough terrain, and sometimes crippled machines across country. This gutsy bunch all “won”, and gave endurance new meaning. I am thrilled for all! Cyril you have done a great job with coverage!
fantastique aventure! avec des motos de plus de 100ans respect a tous et en particulier a mes amis jeff et matt . et david nous a peint une belle indian .bravo a tous
Marvelous! Love those old bikes!! Beauty Photos & Informations and thanks to ya all !!!
Very Classic!!
A grand tribute to motorcycling and the folks keeping vintage machines alive. Congratulations to all who participated and thanks for letting all of us watch & enjoy from afar.
great headline cryil. and huge congratulations to all those that participated
would like to say GREAT RACE !!!!! to all the racers you all rock… thanks cryil for keeping us up on the race …….
Kudos to all involved. It must have been a great experience and thank you for being such great ambassadors of motorcycling.
Hmmnn … two Excelsiors, one J.A.P. and one Harley-Davidson in the winners’ circle. Kinda makes ya wonder how things would be if Excelsior had survived? Not the fake Hanlon one but the original.
Cannonball Baker back then would have been riding dirt trails badly grooved with narrow car wheels and had to meet barges to cross rivers. 14 days is quite the challenge. Everyone of these riders are winners. An adventure of a lifetime. The Excelsiors are impressive. Congrats are in order to Lonnie for having the idea to do this and John for his precision planning. A very well run event.
Doc, Excelsior has survived in a sense, a fellow in Canada has done some nice work on a reproduction.
http://www.flashbackfab.com/pages/excel00.html
I still get tears in my eyes seeing all those people on the pier when we rode in together.
It was true teamwork that kept each other going.
So proud I got to meet these determined riders. I will miss each of them. Safe travels home my friends… and thanks to all our teams who kept us going.
Great job Cyril I loved it!
It will be hard to beat this Cannonball, if another comes. It’s like all events, the 1st one is the one that brought the excitement and the dreams alive. Any others after this one will only be chasing tails trying to be what the first one was. All the same, nothing will be cooler to many of us than to see the Cannonball run again next year. I can imagine all the folks along the way watching these antique machines racing across their counties and states…looking on in awe…and picturing themselves or their grandparents riding just such a two wheeled conveyance. Ahhhh,
Thanks to all who ran this race…to all their team members, to the folks who reported the goings on…what a great race and event to be a witness of.
I Only rode for 4 days (on a 05 Ultra…what a wimp!) from Canada to see these guys come in and I would say to everyone who couldve been there- you should have been there, the welcome was exstatic from the crowd and you could see the appreciation of the riders. we thank those guys for their showing that these old bikes are still for riding. Keep on riding old bikes
Congrats to all participants, lots of courage and passion for motorcycles!
Great job guys and gals.
What an experience I was so fortunate to be a part of. Many thanks to Lonie for having the vision and John to have the ability to lay out such an amazing ride. So many good people associated with the ride and so many willing to help out along the way. My riding buddy Cris Summer SImmons and her support team ( including Husband Pat) helped add enjoyment to the whole experience. Pat is very knowledgeable of the old iron and just a neat guy to be around. My congrats to everyone that rode in the event, supported it in some way or just had the interest in it to follow it on the web.