Posted on 09/21/2004 9:43:55 AM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
WABASHA (AP) - With a State Patrol airplane overhead, a Stillwater motorcyclist hit the throttle and possibly set the informal record for the fastest speeding ticket in Minnesota history: 205 mph.
On Saturday afternoon, State Patrol pilot Al Loney was flying near Wabasha, in southeastern Minnesota on the Wisconsin border, watching two motorcyclists racing along U.S. Highway 61.
When one of the riders shot forward, Loney was ready with his stopwatch. He clicked it once when the motorcycle reached a white marker on the road and again a quarter-mile later. The watch read 4.39 seconds, which Loney calculated to be 205 mph.
"I was in total disbelief," Loney told the St. Paul Pioneer Press for Tuesday's editions. "I had to double-check my watch because in 27 years I'd never seen anything move that fast."
Several law enforcement sources told the newspaper that, although no official records are kept, it was probably the fastest ticket ever written in the state.
After about three-quarters of a mile, the biker slowed to about 100 mph and let the other cycle catch up. By then Loney had radioed ahead to another state trooper, who pulled the two over soon afterward.
The State Patrol officer arrested the faster rider, 20-year-old Stillwater resident Samuel Armstrong Tilley, for reckless driving, driving without a motorcycle license - and driving 140 miles per hour over the posted speed limit of 65 mph.
A search of speeding tickets written by state troopers, who patrol most of the state's highways, between 1990 and February 2004 shows the next fastest ticket was for 150 mph in 1994 in Lake of the Woods County.
Tilley did not return calls from the newspaper to his home Monday. A working number for him could not immediately be found by The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Only a handful of exotic sports cars can reach 200 mph, but many high-performance motorcycles can top 175 mph. With minor modifications, they can hit 200 mph. Tilley was riding a Honda 1000, Loney said.
Kathy Swanson of the state Office of Traffic Safety said unless Tilley was wearing the kind of protective gear professional motorcycle racers wear, he was courting death at 200 mph.
"I'm not entirely sure what would happen if you crashed at 200 miles per hour," Swanson said. "But it wouldn't be pretty, that's for sure."
_
I survived 98 mph thru a brickwall, but 200mph?
I don't think so!
<|:-)~~
Do you know the last thing to go thru your mind when you crash a motorcycle going at 205 miles per hour????
Your a$$hole.
(sorry...I needed a little potty-mouth humor today)
You can guarantee he wasn't on a Harley.....
How do these people find someone to join them in their weird activities?!
140 Over the posted limit, you better have a good excuse. One story which survives from the Cannonball/Baker races is of the guy driving the Ferrarri through Ohio at 160 or thereabouts while dressed like a priest. Cops said"Buddy, we got you doing 160 miles per hour in a 65 zone, where's the ****ing fire?" and the guy supposedly turned around so they could see the priest's robes, pointed towards the ground and said "That way my son, give a priest a ticket for speeding, and you'll find out where the fire is..."
It didn't work but it has to rate an A for effort and originality.
I don't see what the age of the driver has to do with it. And don't forget that this was a handheld timer. A quarter-second error is quite likely, especially in the case of someone who is not used to doing this. Add a quarter second to that time and the speed drops a lot.
Have camera, will travel.
www.darwinawards.com
Sounds like a kerry voter.
Oh, boy... I can just IMAGINE the fine for THAT ticket...
"I got a need - a need for SPEED!"
>>I once called 911 when driving home because of a group of kids on bikes riding extremely dangerously and nearly causing a couple of wrecks. The 911 operator told me "We can't pursue motorcycles. There is nothing we can do."<<
Heh, heh. I love my Magna... 8^>
No. A Harley Sportster can be built to go over 200mph. As a matter of fact a Harley Sportster held the single engine motorcycle land speed record of 265 mph for over 25 years.
Windshield.
Pea-sized pebble in road.
LOL
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A Suzki Hayabusa can do almost 200mph STOCK. It would not take much to get 205 out of it. Sorry RUBs, your Harleys ARE NOT the baddest bikes on the streets.
Ping
I know what you mean. I used to wear skimobile suits to ride with in the winter. The rip-stop nylon allows you to zing along on the pavement quite nicely, having zinged along the pavement once.
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