Minn. Trooper Writes 205 Mph Ticket



Sep 21, 4:39 PM (ET)

WABASHA, Minn. (AP) - 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."

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

Where's Darwin when you need him?

That's just crazy!

Between the fine, cost of court, and the jail time im sure he will get, i do not think Stillwater will have to worry about their version of Speedy Gonzalez for a good long time.

Imagine what would have happened if he would have crashed going at those high rats of speed..................let's just say, the outcome wouldn't be pretty.

Lets just say that i've seen stuff in a blender that would have had better consistency than his body if he had wrecked.


I've driven my bike over 100 MPH before when i was younger and looking back on it now i just shake my head and think there has to be a God because someone was looking out for me back in those crazy ass days. :@@:

All of you are certainly correct.

The young man was not cited for driving while intoxicated, which certainly a plus. There's no mention of traffic, and where better to run hard & fast than on the legendary Hwy 61? All of you who enjoy fast driving certainly can appreciate "putting the pedal to the metal" and going for the end of the speedometer when the opportunity presents itself. He traveled less than a mile before slowing down. OK, who really hasn't done something similar? I know I have.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - People across the country are shaking their heads over the kid ticketed for allegedly riding his motorcycle at 205 mph - some out of disapproval, other because they doubt he went that fast.

Ever since a State Patrol pilot clocked Samuel Armstrong Tilley's 2002 Honda RC51 going a quarter-mile in 4.39 seconds on Sept. 18, people in chatrooms, garages and biker bars from Sturgis, S.D., to Los Angeles have been buzzing about the alleged feat on Highway 61 near Wabasha.

"Certainly anyone who flouts the law to that extent is seen by some as a latter-day Robin Hood, flying in the face of authority and doing stuff we all want to do but common sense stops us from," said David Edwards, editor-in-chief of Cycle World, a magazine based in Newport Beach, Calif.

Edwards is among the many experts who doubt Tilley's bike could have gone so fast. "More likely, the cop with the stopwatch had an itchy trigger finger," he told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis.

"There are lots of guys who have been spending a lot of money and a lot of years at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah trying to join the official 200 Club and most still haven't done it," Edwards said. He said Tilley's bike would have needed an add-on turbo charger to go above 165 mph.

State Patrol pilot Al Loney, a 27-year veteran, and his superiors stand by their report.

Tilley, who graduated from Stillwater High School last year, hasn't returned numerous calls seeking comment. He's due to appear in Wabasha County Court on Oct. 25.

Tilley purchased his motorcycle last summer from Tousley Motorsports in White Bear Lake, where he once worked.

Tousley President Larry Koch said Tilley is a nice guy, "but I really want to ask him: 'What in the hell were you thinking?'"