Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

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."


09/21/04 16:39 EDT

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

sweet.....

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

Hell yeah...now that's a newspaper article to be proud of if your that guy :D I would have bought every copy in town. :drink:

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

I can hear it now......

"OH MAN.......come on! My insurance is gonna go through the roof. Can you possibly lower the ticket to 195 mph?" :rolleyes: :D

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

Roflmao.... I remember getting a ticket the same way years ago... luckily for me... I had slowed down.... I was clocked over a measured half mile going 123 in a 55........ :D

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

he should tell the judge he forgot about it and frame that over the fireplace.

as for bad moves i passed a N.Y.C. cop at 130mph and as you would expect he really didnt want to do the paperwork, lucky for me he sent me home w/no ticket!

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

140 in a 45, Arlington County, VA, back when I was 19, and in the Air Force; 1987 Trans Am. 3 juristictions chased me, arrested, released on recognaziance; charged with reckless endangerment, evading law enforcement, and resisiting arrest. The judge let up on the resisting arrest, but socked me good for the other two. At 19 and in the Military, a $600 fine was a lot of cabbage. I was so broke for the next two years, (Assigned Risk Insurance, worse than High Risk), that I remember having $4 dollars in my checking account, and putting in $6 so I could get a $10 out; several times.

I didn't learn. At 21, I bought a crotch rocket. I passed a Fairfax County Police Station during shift change, doing a wheelie. Forking stupid.

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

Well that dude beat my 165 in a Supra Turbo when I was 24... Young...dumb...
Those cops were laughing issuing three tickets for $800 and keeping my radar detector... I deserved it.

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

And stupid.

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

Man, that brings back the 20 yr old memories....1969 GTO worked 500 HP blue block, 2.90 rear end ratio, special suspension bits, total stock appearance = many dead ferraris, porsches etc. with shocked, dumbfounded expressions on their drivers faces. Since most of the "fun" was freeway stuff, they never had a chance to notice the cars idle, Rrrrrrump, Rrrrrrump, Rrrrrump, shake shake shake. <ggggggg>

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

Wonder what that ticket cost :eek: :eek:

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

I have no doubt the kid was going fast but what bike is geared to do 205?

It would have to be one helluva cafe racer!

I think the cop miscalculated/mis-timed.

Wannabe

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

Not possible, that bike isn't capable of doing it for 1, and at speeds over 150 even the slightest error on the officers part is a huge difference in speed. Theres a reason nobody uses a stop watch for any real measurement.

Was he going fast? Yes. Was he going 205? No way, no how, its BS.

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

On my last bike, I passed a trooper doing well past 160. Actually, the needle was buried on a 180 mph speedo, but we all know how accurate they are.
As far as I could tell, he never even pulled out of his hiding spot. I got off at the next exit and took back roads straight to my garage.
Shortly after, I sold that bike and haven't owned another since.

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

A couple years ago (when I was even more stupid and foolish) I had my bike clocked on a country road with others who cleared and checked the road before I ran. I was clocked at 174. It felt like I was doing 1000 mph. I could never see myself attempting that again. If that guy was doing anything close to 205 on an open and unchecked road god bless him. At those speeds the slightest movement of your head or knee has drastic results.

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

I have owned and ridden most of the fastest bikes in production. On a dyno, yes they will will show numbers close to or exceeding 200, and yes a race bike or turbo bike will exceed this speed. However a Dyno does not have any wind resistance which at these speeds is the greatest factor and a dyno is hardly a real world test. As I said before, the guy is most likely on a Stock 1000 and maybe has a pipe or power commander, but he was not exceeding 200mph, there is not a shadow of a doubt in my mind about this.

At 180 you are traveling 1 mile every 20 seconds. If this officer timed the bike over a distance of half a mile, an error of only small fractions of a second would be several miles per hour difference. 180 is very possible even likely but I highly doubt the guy was doing more than 180.

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

Wonder why Trouty has not confirmed this?

Here is the only thought I can muster up on this one. In CA the planes the CHP uses are not that fast. Like 115 mph fast. So how in the world did this plane position itself over the bike sufficiently so that it could pick the points, watch the bike and still have a perfect point of view?

At the planes velocity if 115 mph it is moving 168 fps. The motorcycle at 205 mph is moving 300 fps. Unless the highways in MN are dotted with these stripes continuously, there isn’t much of a chance that the plane could have just lucked into to it and there is no way that plane could have waited for the point in the road to time it as the velocity of the motorcycle is far to great in comparison to the plane.

Change the plane speed and it still doesn't work out for a timed point on the highway to appear for measurement.

Remember, a plane cannot hover over the measurement points on the highway like a helicopter could so I don’t really believe the numbers.

Poor bastard should have taken his high school math teacher to court instead of his attorney!

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

...and I was p!ssed about my 81 in a 65 last Saturday night :eek:

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

My buddy got a ticket for 143 MPH in a construction zone in Oklahoma. The four troopers that stopped us said that was the largest speeding ticket that they had even heard of, much less written!

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

He did by starting a thread regarding this in the proper location. The off topic forum. :D

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

:D :D :D

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

I have a video to post if any can tell me how to do it.

Cougarman

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

i bet the bike was a fountain. reggie will say he holds that recoed also ttt

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

You've brought up my next thought.

Does the mathematical formula account for the altitude of the airplane itself? This obviously can affect the perspective of the person pushing the stop watch.

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

It's just another example of the man trying to keep us down!!! :D :D :D

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

:D Yah Nort, The Man is always beating us down. :D :D :D Troutly is right, as always. Haven't you learned that yet, the Police are always right and as stated, he only has to be going over the posted limit, after 20 or so over it is all the same. By by bike, license and insurance. :eek: Going thru Chicago I had two crazies on bikes just ripping thru trafic at 6pm. No helmets, no brains. I was not impressed and really thought I would see them in a heap down the road. This is being sensationalized to the point where he is becoming a hero, just ask NickSlick, I bet the bike boards are all over this. Lets hope it is not a challenge to go faster. :mad: :eek:

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

Trout:

Def. not disagreeing that the guy was 100% in the wrong, and pretty damn stupid at that. I sincerely doubt that he was going 205 mph, however I don't think anyone in their right mind would think the guy wasn't breaking the law, or that he has any chance in conning his way out of this one.

I've had my share of speeding tickets, deserved every one of them, had other tickets i didn't really deserve, but all-in-all 99% of the cops I know or have met from something like this are fair and honest.

BTW since we're talkin cops, are you big in FOP stuff? Just wondering because my friend's dad is the national prez. Chuck Canterburry from Myrtle Beach, I went to high school with his son, really nice folks.

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

That was my original concern as to the difference in speeds the parallax of the angles of perception and the perfect timing of the marks on the roadway all have to come into the window at the correct time to come away with an accurate speed.

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

Trout. You hit the nail on the head as far as the speeding stuff, we all know how it is, everyone does it to some extent.

As far as FOP, i was just wondering , I know every state is different with union or non-union, and all the organizations that go along. South and North are totally different when it comes to most labor stuff.

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

Or busy eating a doughnut!!! :D :D :D :D

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

i always just slow down for those marks on the road, you have to be a moron not to know what they are for.

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

How many winners do we have posting this article? :D:D:D

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

205 on the street!!!!!!!........he needs to get on the track!!!!!!

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

i love it 205,,,, hmmm though.
going into carson city from the calif side i got radared at 158 flat out wound out all it had geard to the moon on a pissed of bike in 1985 was a open gp version (my race bike) of a 84 kaw 900 ninja bob wirth racing did motor and tony nicosia's stuff pipe etc this thing ran 10.32 in the 1/4 mile with me in the seat at fremont baylands racyway.
the cops had a road block by the time i got to the entrance to carson and i got into a lot of trouble.. whew glad that is behind me...........

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

Twinstep? Where did your post go?

He sounds like good hearted decent kid.

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

Ive been 170 on my R1..........Thats the best rush in the world.......been 140 in my 03 cobra........Bike feels much safer.........

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

ttt

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

Courtesy of Formula Outlaw. :)

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

Though it's hard to see, the above "radar sign" in the original photo clearly shows 202 mph.

Re: Minnesota Trooper Writes 205 MPH Ticket
 

ttt