Little Falls native Bill Warner breaks own motorcycle speed record

Photo Courtesy of Walt Kudron/Wild Brothers Racing

Bill Warner, seen here on his modified Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle at the Loring Timing Association’s Land Speed Race last month, pushed his bike over 311 miles per hour on the one-and-a-half mile track, breaking his previous world land speed record.   

Bill Warner arrived at the former Loring Air Force Base with one goal last month: become the fastest man on two wheels.

Or, more accurately, become a faster fastest man on two wheels.

The Little Falls native already owned the motorcycle land speed record, a 273 miles-per-hour jaunt on his modified Suzuki Hayabusa in 2010.

His goal at the Loring Timing Association’s Land Speed Race motorcycle time trial was to top 300 on the one-and-a-half mile track .

“I’ve been working and developing motorcycles for the last few years,” Warner said by phone. “I started out and went 188, 180 miles per hour in 2006. Every single race I’ve been to, I’ve gotten faster.”

The race at Loring was no different. Warner was clocked at 311 miles per hour, breaking his own record.

It took about 26 seconds.

“Twenty-six seconds sounds quick,” said Warner. “I’m covering 457 feet per second, and I did the last quarter-mile in around three seconds.”

Warner, who moved to Florida to attend college and now lives in Wimauma, Fla., joined the tight-knit community of speed racers in 2006, when he purchased a Yamaha V-Max. A friend told him the Yamaha would never reach 200 miles per hour.

Warner decided to find out.

“When somebody says you can’t do something, it makes you want to do it even more,” said Warner. “I tried and I did it.”

Now, Warner spends much of his time modifying his own motorcycles, reselling parts to other speed-racing enthusiasts, and sharing tips and tricks on speed-racing forums online.

A marine biologist, Warner also owns a tropical fish farm. The business doesn’t require him to be on-site every day, allowing him to devote time to speed racing.

Having a day job is a necessity for most racers; although Warner has a manager who secures sponsors for him, primarily from motorcycle parts manufacturers. Most speed racers are competing for love, not money.

“It’s just for the thrill of doing it,” said Warner. “There’s no prize; there’s no nothing.”

Just bragging rights, a superhero-esque title, and the chance to go as fast as some airplanes — if only for a few seconds.

Speed doesn’t make Warner nervous; he’s been racing for several years. Each race is preceded by months of research, study and technical modification of his prize Hayabusa.

It’s the stopping that worries him.

“I feel very comfortable at speed,” Warner said. “Deceleration is the part that feels scary. Trying to stop the bike is the scariest part. At Loring, there’s a mile (of shutdown) and I used every bit of that mile to get it stopped.”

Although Warner has crossed the 300 mph threshold, he would like to push his bike even farther. He hopes to reach 300 miles per hour on a shorter, one-mile track sometime this year.

“We’re going to see how close we can get to 300 in the mile,” said Warner. “And next year, I’ll be going back to Loring and running the bike again and seeing how fast we go.”