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Motorcyclist leads police on I-70 chase that hits 170 mph
Observer-Reporter ^ | 06/06/2005 | KATHIE O. WARCO

Posted on 06/06/2005 8:12:11 AM PDT by Responsibility1st

Rico Lamar Porter doesn't have a license to drive, but apparently he thought he had a license to fly Wednesday afternoon.

Porter, 27, of 25 Dyer Drive, Hickory, was arrested after leading state police on an eight-mile, 170-mph chase on traffic-congested Interstate 70.

That's no misprint. Commonly referred to as a sport bike or "crotch rocket," an aerodynamic motorcycle like the one Porter was operating is capable of speeds of around 200 mph.

Trooper Martin Gonglik was running radar about 4:20 p.m. near the Dunningsville exit of the highway when he clocked Porter going 120 mph.

Gonglik activated the lights and siren on his police car and attempted to stop Porter, but the motorcylist instead took off. With the trooper in his marked police cruiser in pursuit, Porter weaved in and out of eastbound traffic.

At times, he drove on the berm to get around vehicles. And not surprisingly, Porter didn't use his turn signal during lane changes.

Porter got off the highway at the Centerville exit and momentarily lost control of his slick speedster. Gonglik swerved to avoid a collision, hitting a guard rail. Porter again tried to flee, going south on Route 481, but ended up hitting the side of the police cruiser. Porter, who was wearing a helmet, was slightly injured and taken to Washington Hospital for treatment.

District Judge Jay Weller initially thought police had made a mistake when he read the criminal complaint filed against Porter.

"When I asked about going 170 mph, he just nodded his head," Weller said of Porter. "He was very forthright about everything. He said he just got the bike two weeks ago and hadn't even made the first payment."

Porter told Weller that his bike-riding days were over.

"He said it was a good thing that the trooper caught him because he probably would have killed himself," Weller said. "He was trying to catch up with some friends. He wondered why he caught up with them so quickly, but they had seen the trooper and slowed down."

Porter was arraigned before Weller on charges of reckless endangerment, fleeing and eluding police, driving with a suspended license, having no registration, having no insurance, driving off the road, not using his turn signal, failing to drive at a safe speed, speeding, careless driving, reckless driving and not having the vehicle inspected. He was placed in Washington County Jail on $2,500 bond.

A preliminary hearing is set for Tuesday before District Judge Curtis Thompson.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: speeding
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To: monday
120 is easy

Yup. My 1986 500 interceptor would go 120mph.

81 posted on 06/06/2005 10:46:47 AM PDT by sparkomatic (I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Phil 4:13)
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To: sparkomatic

Yeah, slightly-- the z-rated street tires are rated for "over 149 MPH" but 220? Maybe some race tires.

Here's the URL for that turbo-Hayabusa video and many more-- the Hayabusa "night" video is INSANE

http://www.uponone.com/listvideos-speed-viewed-10-10.php


82 posted on 06/06/2005 11:07:39 AM PDT by zipper ("The fear of God makes heroes, the fear of man makes cowards."-- Sgt Alvin C. York)
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To: sparkomatic

Correction make that the "Hi_Speed_Pass" video


83 posted on 06/06/2005 11:10:47 AM PDT by zipper ("The fear of God makes heroes, the fear of man makes cowards."-- Sgt Alvin C. York)
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To: zipper

That just killed about an hour of time here at work.


84 posted on 06/06/2005 12:07:08 PM PDT by sparkomatic (I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Phil 4:13)
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To: Revelation 911
are these things in a risk pool of their own ?

Yeah, and it's really not unusual for the insurance on a squid bike to be more costly than the payment. Deservedly so I might add. Then again, I'm probably biased in my dislike for them.

85 posted on 06/06/2005 12:11:53 PM PDT by Melas (Lives in state of disbelief)
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To: zipper
"...without a helmet and appropriate attire."

Oh yeah, I buy that. "Gee, occifer, if he'd only been wearing a helmet when he centerpunched that concrete overpass support, he would be ok today -instead of just a big stain coating it."

(/sarcasm)

86 posted on 06/06/2005 12:12:03 PM PDT by Utilizer (Some days you're the windshield. Some days you're the bug...)
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To: Responsibility1st

Lots of bone stock bikes will pass 170. Currently, the Jap manufactures are voluntarily putting 300kph electronic governors on their bikes. Defeating the gov is the first mod a lot of these guys do now.


87 posted on 06/06/2005 12:16:00 PM PDT by Melas (Lives in state of disbelief)
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To: DarkSavant

120 is easy to hit. I've hit 120 on my Sportster.


88 posted on 06/06/2005 12:16:42 PM PDT by Melas (Lives in state of disbelief)
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To: JoeSixPack1
. . . are we in for another round of restrictive laws aimed at the 200+ mph crowd?

Perhaps they'll bring back the Saint Joan of Claybrook (the DOT head under the Carter administration that brought us the "Backwards Bike") federally mandated 85mph speedometers!

89 posted on 06/06/2005 12:20:58 PM PDT by BraveMan
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To: Responsibility1st
This lad needs to soup up his bike a few more hp to keep up with the following:

Motorcycle world abuzz at biker's 205 mph ticket

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (AP) -- People across the United States are shaking their heads over the kid ticketed for allegedly riding his motorcycle at 205 mph -- some out of disapproval, others because they doubt he went that fast.

Ever since a State Patrol pilot clocked Samuel Armstrong Tilley's 2002 Honda RC51 going a quarter-mile in 4.39 seconds on September 18, people in chat rooms, garages and biker bars from Sturgis, South Dakota, to Los Angeles have been buzzing about the alleged feat on Highway 61 near Wabasha.

State Patrol pilot Al Loney, a 27-year veteran, and his superiors stand by their report.


90 posted on 06/06/2005 12:27:01 PM PDT by deport (Women always get the last say in an argument.. anything after that is the start of a new argument)
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To: deport
This guy took a 1967 Chevy to new heights.......

JATO Assisted Chevy


The Arizona Highway Patrol were mystified when they came upon a pile of smoldering wreckage embedded in the side of a cliff rising above the road at the apex of a curve. The metal debris resembled the site of an airplane crash, but it turned out to be the vaporized remains of an automobile. The make of the vehicle was unidentifiable at the scene.

The folks in the lab finally figured out what it was, and pieced together the events that led up to its demise.

It seems that a former Air Force sergeant had somehow got hold of a JATO (Jet Assisted Take-Off) unit. JATO units are solid fuel rockets used to give heavy military transport airplanes an extra push for take-off from short airfields.

Dried desert lakebeds are the location of choice for breaking the world ground vehicle speed record. The sergeant took the JATO unit into the Arizona desert and found a long, straight stretch of road. He attached the JATO unit to his car, jumped in, accelerated to a high speed, and fired off the rocket. The facts, as best as could be determined, are as follows:

The operator was driving a 1967 Chevy Impala. He ignited the JATO unit approximately 3.9 miles from the crash site. This was established by the location of a prominently scorched and melted strip of asphalt. The vehicle quickly reached a speed of between 250 and 300 mph and continued at that speed, under full power, for an additional 20-25 seconds. The soon-to-be pilot experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog-fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners.

The Chevy remained on the straight highway for approximately 2.6 miles (15-20 seconds) before the driver applied the brakes, completely melting them, blowing the tires, and leaving thick rubber marks on the road surface. The vehicle then became airborne for an additional 1.3 miles, impacted the cliff face at a height of 125 feet, and left a blackened crater 3 feet deep in the rock.

Most of the driver's remains were not recovered; however, small fragments of bone, teeth, and hair were extracted from the crater, and fingernail and bone shards were removed from a piece of debris believed to be a portion of the steering wheel.


91 posted on 06/06/2005 12:33:05 PM PDT by deport (Women always get the last say in an argument.. anything after that is the start of a new argument)
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To: Responsibility1st
I do not buy the 170 either -but well above 100 yes. Back when I was working and living in Los Gatos, I used to ride every weekend up Hwy 9 up to Big Basin. Loved all the nice curvy sections -even when sometimes a tree or rockslide had dropped across the road and I had to do a bit of 'offroading' to get around the section. I used to get passed by often by ricerockets taking those same curves at high speed and lean angles. I just shook My head at what the idiot's antics were likely to get them. EVERY WEEK, the local paper listed the number of them that went over a cliff because they overshot a turn, or hit a cager going the other way. And some of them were wearing shorts, t-shirts (optional, apparently), and sneakers.

One guy even made the front page because he went over a cliff, and was severely injured with at least one broken leg that I can recall. His friends noticed that he did not come back the following Monday, and on Wednesday notified authorities he was missing. They finally found him a couple of days later when after going back and forth along Hwy 9, one of them happened to stop over a particularly narrow section where he noticed a long skid mark leading to a broken guardrail and thought he heard something when he called out the guys name. They wound up having to chopper the guy out -and only later found the bike.

About thirty feet straight up, lodged in a tree.

(C)San Jose Mercury News, about... '88 or so.

92 posted on 06/06/2005 12:33:30 PM PDT by Utilizer (Some days you're the windshield. Some days you're the bug...)
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To: martin_fierro

Who~~~~a. He had it on one wheel up to 130mph, that's nuts. At first I thought the speedo was in kmh but no, kmh is on the inside row of numbers.


93 posted on 06/06/2005 12:38:14 PM PDT by Lx (Do you like it, do you like it Scott? I call it Mr. and Mrs. Tennerman chili.)
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To: BraveMan

'Backwards bike' Haven't heard of that boondoggle in years.


94 posted on 06/06/2005 12:39:16 PM PDT by Lx (Do you like it, do you like it Scott? I call it Mr. and Mrs. Tennerman chili.)
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To: MarkL; Responsibility1st
I don't believe an unmodified bike will do 170...

I don't doubt that they can. Here in Mobile, AL I was cruising to work the other morning at around 85 mph. I was passed by one of these crotch rockets, traveling on only his rear wheel, leaving me in the dirt. He was leaving me so fast it looked like I was in reverse.

Cordially,
GE
95 posted on 06/06/2005 1:21:05 PM PDT by GrandEagle
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To: Lx

When I'd first read about the contraption in Cycle magazine (remember them?) I thought to myself, "Not even the government could be that stupid." Turns out I was wrong. They really did build it. I read where one of the DOT testers ended up breaking a collarbone trying to ride it.

I'd actually found a picture of the thing on the internet a few years ago. It was cobbled up from remnants of an RD350 if memory serves. Alas, they seem to have disappeared. I've been looking . . .


96 posted on 06/06/2005 1:28:03 PM PDT by BraveMan
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To: Utilizer

I used to work with a guy in the Bay Area that was a motor cop who patrolled the Woodside area, and he had a lot of biker crash stories to tell. They usually featured the bike or the rider in a tree, and the other party up to 300 ft. away.


97 posted on 06/06/2005 1:29:53 PM PDT by Disambiguator
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To: deport

from your link:

Claim: The remains of a smoldering JATO-assisted Chevrolet Impala were found embedded in the side of a cliff in the Arizona desert.

Status: False.


98 posted on 06/06/2005 1:42:55 PM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: Responsibility1st

Ive had this one up to 180

99 posted on 06/06/2005 1:44:08 PM PDT by woofie ("Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!!")
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To: sheik yerbouty
It was 1000cc RC51 Honda. Only mods were exhaust systems. A fast ride, but not a 200mph one.

This was posted at Motorcycle Consumer News at the time, and is a pretty fair description of what most likely happened:

Actually this guy has been posting on sportbikes.net and he said that he was riding a Honda RC51 with an aftermarket muffler, otherwise it's stock. That bike is by no stretch of the imagination capable of 200mph. Apparently the cop was in a plane using a stopwatch and was timing 2 bikes going different speeds with 2 stopwatches at the same time. He was timing them from hash mark to hash mark a 1/4 mile apart. Apparently the cops were patroling the area they knew a bike ride was occuring on.


More here http://www.mcnews.com/anforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=61533&whichpage=1

100 posted on 06/06/2005 1:45:45 PM PDT by Starwolf
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