Motorcycle World Abuzz at 205 Mph Ticket
Sun Sep 26,10:26 PM ET Add Strange News - AP to My Yahoo!
MINNEAPOLIS - 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?'"
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On the Net:
A copy of the ticket is at
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0922042speed1.html
"Molon labe".
Leonidas, King of Sparta,
Thermopylae, 480 B.C.
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