'Tour de Road America - A Bike Ride To Fight Cancer' returns for IMSA weekend

Annual fundraising event for Austin Hatcher Foundation set for Friday as part of IMSA weekend.

Road America, one of the country's premier motorsports facilities, will be the scenic setting on Friday for the annual "Tour de Road America – A Bike Ride to Fight Cancer," an always-awaited fundraising event benefiting the Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer.

The Tour de Road America at the Elkhart Lake, Wis. circuit is part of another anticipated event: the IMSA Continental Tire Road Race Showcase featuring competition in IMSA's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series.

The Austin Hatcher Foundation is a proud partner of IMSA. Prior to 2014, the Foundation served as the official charity of the American Le Mans Series sportscar organization.

The Tour de Road America will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, a family-friendly ride utilizing the expansive 4-mile Road America circuit. The ride follows the completion of Friday's IMSA schedule, allowing competitors to join series personnel, families, friends, fans, local cyclists and cancer survivors for the event. Riders can complete as many laps as they desire until nightfall. In addition to the ride, the event features a silent auction of cycling gear, art, team and motorsports memorabilia.

There are four basic registration options: $25 for a single rider, $100 for a family, $250 for a team designation and a $25 "friend of the ride" option. Purchase of a race ticket is required for registration. There also are special registration opportunities for IMSA drivers and team members. In addition, a variety of sponsorship and donor opportunities are available.

"Each and every year, this event is one of the highlights of the Foundation's fundraising efforts," said Austin Hatcher Foundation President Amy Jo Osborn. "The support we get from Road America and IMSA is superb and the response we get from sports car competitors and race fans is gratifying. In many ways, this personifies the relationship we have enjoyed for so many years with the motorsports community.

"When you combine all of that with the undeniable beauty of the Road America facility, the event is really a showcase for our cause."

Participants should enter at Road America's main game on Highway 67. The gate will remain open until 6:15 p.m. After entering the facility, participants will go to the track's staging area near the start/finish tunnel outside of the paddock area.