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."
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My Sportster doesn't look like that blue "H". It's all black, no windshield, has a solo seat, clip-on bars and a huge Cerriani racing front brake laced to an Akront rim.
In Massachusetts, as of 07/03 it would be a minimum $100 for the first 10 mph over the limit. Then an additional $10 for every 5 mph over that. So...
Mr. Samuel Armstrong Tilley would be owing the Commonwealth a cool $360 for going 205 mph in a 65 mph zone. And that doesn't begin to include the cost to him for surcharges from his insurance company which can go into the thousands over the period of 5 years that this ticket will be on his record.
I don't know if the kid was doing 205 or not. I don't think the aerodynamics would prevent it. That motorcycle is going to cut through the air a heck of a lot better than those Nascar guys.... and they go that fast (granted they have a lot of horsepower). I would guess that at 200 mph a motorcycle is in the middle of the aerodynamics curve. Maybe not.
But I do know that I got a ticket by a guy who timed me in an airplane one time. The guy on the ground pulled me over and said that I was clocked with a plane doing 86 mph in a 75 zone. I told him that my cruise was set on 80 (and it really was). But that didn't matter. Then while sitting in his car I saw the sliding scale and realized that at 11 mph over and the ticket trippled. But I'm sure that didn't play a factor in the thing... -sarcasim-
mine was in a mitsubishi, so i wasnt on a cycle as well, and i was still young and stupid.
Darned cruise control stuck again...
" The K1200S has a top speed around 175 or so."
Thats not what they are saying about the new model.
Just for the record. The land speed record for standing start mile on a street legal Busa is; 250.006 mph set in Oct. 03'. Bike is owned by Rich Yancy and riden by Lee Shierts. The time was posted at East Coast Timing Assoc. in N.C.
And I thought I was doing good getting stopped for doing 135 in a 30 mph zone.
(It was in a closed public park with no other traffic around.)
Yep....that's what kids do whose folks would never let them ridge motorcickels or mini-bikes as kids...lol
(I'm on the road next two day...but I might holler tommorow)
hate missing the further implosion of blathergate.
If he was clocked on a quarter mile at 4.39 seconds...then he was doing just a whisker over 205 mph. Maybe he had a rocket up his butt.
"Littering, and...littering, and...littering, and...".
I don't know what the speed was but I do know troopers on the Garden State Parkway were mystified by extremely high radar readings a night when they didn't observe a car. It happened often enough that they finally set up a trap. It turned out to be a guy in a Porsche that made a trip between somewhere in North Jersey and Atlantic City running without lights. The guy used a set of night vision goggles.
Nice bike though...
How about Nitro Nori HAGA running 3 Wide in dirt and grass @ 200mph on the Old Hockennheim (Please bring it Back) back straight with the Texas Tornado & Corser.
Haga is just insane on a Bike…
How about Nitro Nori HAGA running 3 Wide in dirt and grass @ 200mph on the Old Hockennheim (Please bring it Back) back straight with the Texas Tornado & Corser.
Haga is just insane on a Bike…
A friend of mine has one. According to him they took several at random and tested them (I think the number was 10 but may have been 20). The slowest in the sample would do 195.
Not sure if you guys know, but some guy made a documentary on MotoGP called "Faster". I bought the DVD, its fantastic. Just an FYI.
http://fastermovie.com
Story doesn't state road conditions- flat-straight-dry-clear. I'll bet I know lots of drag racers who can get a Honda 1000 to top 200. Trick is finding someone who will try it. What is the record at Bonneville for like sized motorcycles?????
I think I've been on that road. Traveling from Carlsbad to Odessa to visit relatives.
You're right. It is scary how empty it is out there. Surprised you saw that many cars actually.
Nitrous oxide maybe ?
Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars are running a quarter mile from a DEAD START and topping 300 MPH in 4 and a half to 5 seconds. Look up the national records on NHRA.org? National Hot Rod Association. I certainly do not advocate doing this on an open road.
Fastest I ever drove on open road was 155 on hwy 51, north of Madison Wis, in a Corvette, about 1961. When the front end started to feel floatee, I said "enough".
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