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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."

Adam got out of his airplane ticket ...

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

I love the end of that article.

You could wear three of the suits professional racers wear and if you crash at 200MPH you would have to just get lucky to survive. Just plain luck is all that would save you.


--Donnie

Since Adam has mostly VW's, I doubt he wasn't going 200mph!

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In need of car.

I don't think a VW is aerodynamic enough to hit 200 mph even if you did push it out of an airplane.

Scott

Well he does have a porsche. Push it out of the plane at the correct angle, and it might see 200+.

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In need of car.

Not entirely true. I have a friend who races motorcycles and he crashed at 190+ MPH at Talledega and, while he was hurt, was able to walk away. The only major injuries were a mild concussion and a broken arm.

Of course this was in the "controlled" environment of a sanctioned race. If he had done that on the open road, he would most likely have died when he got run over by an 18 wheeler or some soccer mom talking on her cell phone while driving her monser SUV. Of course, 10 set of protective leathers won't save you from a mom in an SUV.

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Todd Breakey
STS 42 - 1992 Sunburst Miata
Dammit!
"You souldn't play leap frog with a porcupine. You might get hurt." - Eliza

Heh. Thanks for that. Now I need to buy a new keyboard since I doubt I'll get all the Coke out of this one.

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Not spectacular just decent.
I'm not sure what I'm driving.
Maybe an ITR in DS.
Or half-assed STX prepped 330.

I don't care how controlled the environment was, he was *lucky*. He was probably also aided by the fact that he's a racer and knew how to go down smoothly (racers do at least know that a crash is coming so fighting it and turning it into a high side is going to get them killed, so you take the low side option and at least hopefully slide until friction stops you rather than hit something hard, but *usually* that part of the equation is where the luck is involved).

I know guys who race, too, and I've been 150MPH on a bike on a track myself. Your friend was still lucky.


--Donnie

Let's see here;





and;


two for you


and;



couple more for you


But to all yes I got paced for 130 in a 55 by a plane, and got no ticket. And no it was not in a VW, or a Porsche. This was before I came to my senses and realized the german way. It was in a 88 Mazda MX6 GT

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91 Jetta GLI STS/DSP 111
85 Porsche 944 ASP 11
http://www.blackforestindustries.com

Just an update on the original dude in question...no way he was doing any more than 170MPH and likely much less than that (My guess would be between 150 and 160, which I do admit is still "bad").

Here's his side of the story and a scan of the actual ticket:

http://zx-10r.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3203&highlight=205


--Donnie

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

Don't you love those tickets where the cop says you were going a lot faster than you actually could be going . . . even when your vehicle was maxed out and you were going as fast as you could ? Got one of those in California in my Lotus accelerating up an on ramp after making a very tight off camber bottom of second gear turn. Motorcycle cop said he was scared (city cop). Of course I was speeding by the time I hit the freeway but the max speed was only about 70 - 75 by then. Judge said "of course you were driving that fast, you were driving a Lotus" after I said the car only had about 120 HP and wasn't capable of the speeds the cop claimed at the point in the ramp he said. I didn't mention that I went back the next day and tested to be sure I was right. I did get to take Traffic School which was my actual goal. By the way, the fix for a problem I was testing worked so it was all worth it.

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Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT

My first ticket many years ago was for 79 in a 55. The officer clocked me decelerating in my exit off of US 52. I was glad he did not point the radar gun back the other way. Before I let off I was turning 7200 rpm in fourth gear in a 510 with a sweet motor built by Jim Fitzgerald's race shop. The 120 spedo was pegged. I got it reduced to 69 in a 55.
I miss that car and that L16 motor.

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George Bright Member # 141
One of the youngest of the old farts.
Yes I voted against you joining the club.

This is why I don't trust Vascar. I have also had a ticket where the officer made a mistake (trying to be nice here) in his calculations.

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I sold my Saab to the devil...
And all I got was this crappy SUV.