The UK's Fastest Motorcycle Speeding Ticket Ever Isn't All That Fast

Those are rookie numbers.

Photo by: Yamaha

Jonathon Klein

By: Jonathon Klein

Jul 8, at 8:54am ET

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To quote The Wolf of Wall Street, "Those are rookie numbers. Gotta pump up those numbers!"

That's exactly what I thought when I read that the fastest motorcycle speeding ticket had been issued in the UK for a whopping...161 mph. That's not even all that fast. Especially considering that the modern motorcycling machinery we have access to is capable of well north of 200 mph from the factory. I mean, Suzuki's Hayabusa has been capable of doing 200 mph for the last thirty years. Hell, I've personally...I'm not going to finish that sentence based on my lawyer giving me the look they're giving me right now.

At least, it doesn't feel like it should be the fastest ever given the UK's preponderance for ton-up culture and pub-to-pub speed runs of the late 1960s. I would've thought it would've been way higher. High enough to compete with the US's highest-recorded motorcycle speeding ticket. Yet, here we are.

According to our friends over at Visordown, West Mercia Police, a PD Northwest of London, took the motorcyclist into custody after they were clocked doing 161 mph at first, and then 130 mph just a few minutes later.

The Cotswold Journal, a local outlet, had more to say, stating, "A motorcyclist was clocked doing 161mph in the fastest speeding offence recorded by West Mercia Police in five years. The offence was detected on the A5 northbound in Shropshire – with the Yamaha rider caught doing 130mph on the same road just 12 minutes later. A suspect was taken to court for the first speeding violation, which was recorded on the Pulley Lane over-bridge at 8.37pm on July 8 last year. The second offence took place at 8.49pm on the same road, which has a 70mph limit."

Again, 161 mph is fast, but not as fast as you'd think, right?

For comparison, the United States' fastest motorcycle speeding ticket ever issued was for an eye-watering 205 mph in Minnesota of all places. And it involved a plane.

What do you think?

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"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," stated Police1, adding, "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."

See, now that's a respectable ticket! For what's it's worth, I'm not advocating for speeding, nor should you attempt to break the speed limit or these record speed tickets. It's just wild to see the difference between the two countries and their respective speeding ticket records, you know?