164 mph on I-5 on a Motorcycle

Ok, this is not an actual image of the guy riding his bike at 164 mph in Eugene. He had his video camera pointed at his speedometer.

According to the article at the Eugene Register-Guard this is believed to be the fastest recorded speeder in Oregon. Others have claimed to be faster but this one is documented. The video also shows the guy’s recklessness. According to the officer it shows the bike speeding between two freight trucks and passing on the freeway shoulder.

A Eugene motorcyclist who sped past an off-duty Oregon state trooper on Interstate 5 may have set the mark as the state’s fastest speeder on record.

Oregon State Police stopped the red and black Honda motorcycle just north of Eugene on Sunday afternoon and found a digital video camera attached to the front of the bike aimed at the speedometer and front windscreen. When they downloaded the images, they saw the driver hitting a top speed of 164 mph.

“I thought I’d seen it all,” said Senior Trooper Jeff Leighty, who first spotted the cyclist. “It’s absolute insanity.”

Troopers arrested Eugene resident Ben Howard Kelley, 37, on a charge of reckless driving and booked him into the Lane County Jail. He has since been released.

Leighty said he was in an unmarked police car returning to Salem from an assignment in Roseburg when a motorcycle squeezed between him and another car at extremely high speed just north of the Belt Line Road construction zone. He estimated that the bike was doing better than 100 mph.

The bike slowed down in traffic a short distance later, and Leighty, who did not attempt a pursuit, drew close enough to see the license number. He radioed the information to a state police dispatcher, and troopers Thomas Hunt and Clay Cole from the Springfield patrol office were able to stop the bike a few miles north of Eugene.

“I was a motor officer for five years, and I know reckless operation when I see it,” Leighty said. “He just absolutely disappeared.”