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Minn. Trooper Writes 205 Mph Ticket

WABASHA, Minn. - With a State Patrol airplane
overhead, a 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."


___


Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://
www.twincities.com