Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
WABASHA, Minn. (Sept. 21) - 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."

 

New breed of bikers rides into danger zone

More motorcyclists are dying in wrecks as the sales of sport bikes surge across the country

By Jon Yates and Russell Working
Tribune staff reporters
Published September 21, 2004

Patrick Thompson says he doesn't drink, smoke marijuana or snort cocaine. Instead he gets his highs racing his Honda motorcycle at speeds of more than 150 miles an hour, or zipping in and out of expressway traffic at 125 m.p.h.

"It's just like a crackhead," said Thompson, who is recovering from a high-speed accident that left both arms in casts. "You can't really understand why this guy gets high, even though it's destroying his life. But he does it because of the reality he has to live through. You escape reality by the speed of the bike."

He is lucky to have survived his June wreck. At least seven people have died in motorcycle accidents in Cook County since Aug. 31, including a high-speed crash that killed South Side resident Jesse Cooper on South Lake Shore Drive early Monday, according to police.

Witnesses said Jesse Cooper was thrown into the air and hit a light pole in the 500 block of South Lake Shore Drive when his speeding motorcycle drifted and hit a curb, police said. Police said they did not know if Cooper was wearing a helmet.

While not all accidents are the fault of the riders, police are alarmed by growing numbers of bikers traveling in packs, zipping between cars on late-night rides--a scene that some say has become more common on Chicago-area interstates as manufacturers produce faster bikes marketed to younger riders.

With top speeds exceeding 150 miles per hour, the "crotch rockets" or sport bikes have become the motorcycles of choice for groups of men and women who take to the highways after dark, when cars are few and the roads open.

Across Chicago and the United States, dozens of new motorcycle groups have sprung up in the last year, fueled in part by the popularity of such movies as "Torque" and "Biker Boyz" that glorify the ultra-fast bikes and the motorcycle culture.

While most of the groups stress safety and say they adhere to the law, police worry the buzz of speeding, swarming motorcycles will increase.

"It's a huge concern," said Chicago police spokesman Pat Camden, who calls the sport motorcycles "[organ] donor cycles." "We're seeing more of them and they're becoming more deadly."

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 3,661 motorcycle fatalities occurred in the United States last year, a 12 percent increase over 2002. In Illinois, 143 motorcyclists were killed in 2003, up from 100 the year before.

Experts attribute the increase to record-breaking motorcycle sales and the emerging emphasis on speed.

Ralph Storino lost control of his Honda CBR 900 while trying to pass a car on the left median of the Stevenson Expressway. Police said he was going at least 90. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

James Sumler died when he hit a retaining wall on the Dan Ryan Expressway on Aug. 31. Witnesses estimated he was riding his sleek, powerful Kawasaki ZX 900 motorcycle at more than 100 miles per hour. He died instantly.

According to Illinois State Police, Sumler was traveling at about 100 miles per hour at 1:40 a.m. when he came upon a stopped semi-truck in a congested construction zone on the Dan Ryan near 79th Street.

State Trooper Angelo Mollo said Sumler, 39, of Chicago, tried to stop but couldn't. When he hit the retaining wall, Sumler was ejected from his bike, which then slid under the semi, Mollo said.

Members of the motorcycle group Sumler was riding with dispute police accounts, saying he was not riding nearly that fast.

Meanwhile, emergency room physicians are left to shake their heads over patients who can end up brain-damaged, quadriplegic or paralyzed after high-speed motorcycle accidents.

Yet even in crashes over 100 m.p.h., helmets can save lives, said Dr. Martin Lucenti, an emergency room physician and assistant professor at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.

"Even at 150 m.p.h., you can roll and you can slide," Lucenti said. "Most helmets will take pretty significant blows up to 40 m.p.h. If you can get enough slowing just from friction as you slide, you can actually decelerate to the point where that helmet makes a very significant difference in terms of prognosis."

Local motorcycle group leaders acknowledge that some riders thrive at full-throttle, but say spectacular crashes like the ones that killed Sumler and Storino are rare and create an unfair stereotype among police and the public that all bikers are reckless.

George Riddles, leader of Number One Stunnas, a local motorcycle group that formed last year and has about 200 members, emphasizes safe driving, but he understands the thrill of riding fast. He said he used to race his motorcycle at high speeds on city roads. But over time, three of his friends died in high-speed crashes, and he swore off it.

"One of them--this was a couple of years ago--was doing 130, 140 and lost control of a turn and ran straight into a wall," Riddles said.

Still, Riddles said most bikers are law-abiding, and he estimates that only 25-30 percent of bikers drive at extreme high speeds.

"We're just getting a bad rap," he said. "There are guys out there doing dangerous stuff...but it's not everybody."

Less than two weeks after Sumler died, Storino, 35, of Lemont, was killed in a similar accident.

State police said Storino was riding at about 90 miles per hour on the Stevenson Sept. 13 when he lost control at about 11:40 p.m.

A state police spokesman said Storino hit the left retaining wall, was thrown from his bike and struck a utility pole.

Storino's cousin, Luis Duran, said Storino was a soft-spoken father of two who loved convertible cars and motorcycles.

Like Sumler, Storino had gotten off work late from his job at a window store in Downers Grove and had gone out for a night ride.

An experienced biker who had grown up riding dirt bikes, Storino rode whenever he could, Duran said, making the most out of Chicago's short riding season.

Although he took off alone on the night he died, Storino either met up with other bikers or came upon them as he rode, Duran said.

"He really didn't ride with a bunch of guys or anything like that," Duran said. "He wasn't a trouble-maker...Sometimes it just kind of found him."

Industry observers say there has not been a comprehensive study on motorcycle accidents in almost two decades, making it difficult to determine what is fueling the national increase in fatalities.

But some experts point to the combination of faster bikes, younger riders and growing popularity.

Mike Mount, a spokesman for the Motorcycle Industry Council, said motorcycle sales have increased each year for more than a decade. Last year, the industry set a record, selling more than 1.5 million motorcycles in the United States alone. Through June of this year, sales were up 12.6 percent compared with the same period in 2002, Mount said.

From 1995 to 2003, national sales of sport bikes grew 139 percent, part of the rapid increase in motorcycle sales overall, Mount said, putting that category of bikes third behind traditionally popular cruisers and touring bikes.

Don Brown, an industry expert at DJB Associates in Irvine, Calif., said motorcycle companies are producing faster sport bikes because that is what younger riders want.

"They're more powerful, they go faster, they make a lot of noise, which is not good for the industry," Brown said. "A lot of these young guys don't realize, they'll go on the freeway and they'll go by cars in a flash. Some poor little old lady driving down the street, it scares them half to death."

The new bikes can create bad public relations for the industry, but the emphasis on speed is neither new nor specific to motorcycles.

"I think it has always been there," Brown said. "The facts are [that] there are a whole range of products aimed at that element of our psychology."

Thompson, who ended up with both arms in casts, said he has learned a lesson from his crash: He won't weave in and out of traffic. But he still plans to drive fast--very fast--on his bike.

"We're still riding like idiots," Thompson said. "I know that, but I just get a high from it."


Copyright

 

Geez, I thought it was you. Can't imagine that kind of speed, especially with nothing surrounding me.

 

<because I don't drive with my emergency brake on> (on a side note: one of my girlfriends told me she was surprised to learn that I needed brakepads <not on the S -- on another car> because you'd have to use brakes to wear out the pads and she'd never seen me use them.)

 

You ladies are TOO funny!

On a more serious note, I'll bet if the bike riders drove an S2000 and realized we have a HUGE blind spot to the left rear of the car, they wouldn't be zipping and zapping around us so much! I never trust my mirror because I'm always afraid there'll be a motorcycle there, so if you see me getting ready to change lanes to the left, you'll see me leaning forward in the car and actually looking back before I move over. To go fast on the freeway when everyone else is moving more slowly, you really have to trust the other drivers........

 

Yeah, josey (your new nickname), that blind spot is scary, I bend over and look around just about all the time. I was doing 85 the other day and several cyclists passed me and looked like I was standing still. It really scares me that they go that fast darting in and out of traffic. Must be a thrill/daring thing or something.

 

You let them get by with that? Was your emergency brake on? Is that why you were only doing 85?? They couldn't have passed you if you had the brake off. (Can't help it, I crack myself up)

 

That Val gives new meaning to that "My Funny Valentine" song!

 

F.Y.I no self respecting motorcycle driver would drive in a car's blind spot. I never did and do not to this day.

And yes I owned a Honda 1000cc sport bike. That thing was scary as hell. In like 2.5-3 secs you are going 85-90. Several times I just accelarated real hard and then had to follow a turn that had gravel....you got to go home after that and change you underwear.

These articles talk about this as something new. As a 40 year old now, I remember lots of different people my age driving very fast on bikes, cars, trucks where we where young. I also remember talking to my uncle who is upper 50s now about a decade or so ago. He was recounting a conversation with his other motorcycle driving friends about how "they where the ones that MADE IT".

Here is a tale that had national headline tragedy written all over it. As a teenage, I was in a car with 9 others in a 1972 Malibu coupe. yes 9 others, 6 in the back and 4 in the front. I did mind some much, with the young chick sitting on my lap for a good hour. The driver was known for wild as driving. We where driving back from a canoe rental trip on a 2 lane highway and behind a line of cars as far as the eye could see. We passed every single one of them in one trip to the passing lane at about 120 MPH it had to be at least 60 cars as I watched from the back passenger seat as cars went by like pickets on a fence. Not sure how anyone I knew ever survived to live to 20.

With my new S2K, I plan on selling my motorcycle next spring. S2K > motorcycling. Near the same open air freedom, no hemlut, high reving engine, gravel on the road is not a tragedy, and crumple zones.

 

I used to like going fast on the highway and I remember the fastest I ever went on the bike was 150-155mph years ago when I had my CBR600. Now though I just like to cruise. I will most likely get rid of my CBR900 next year for a harley. I want to step up to a cruiser. Not sure if its just old age or taste. Driving fast gets old and I am glad I wasn't a statistic. Every once in a while I still get the itch be it in my S or my bike but I am more cautious. Always wear a Helmet!

Be safe. Boy what a story though...