Bill Warner died Sunday after a crash at the Maine Event at Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine.
Warner was a fixture at the Maine Event. He took his highly modified Suzuki Hayabusa to 311 mph there in 2011; that mark was considered by many to be the world land speed record for a conventional motorcycle (a sit-on-top bike, not a sit-inside streamliner).
On Sunday, Warner was trying to hit 300 mph in only a mile of pavement (he’d used 1.5 miles in his 2011 run). As he reached the end of the mile, his bike started to pull to the right. After another 2,000 feet, the machine went off the track, and crashed.Warner died later in hospital.
The rest of the event was canceled. Police are investigating the incident.
The Maine Event uses two and a half miles of of the miles of the 14,200-foot runway at the decommissioned Loring base; there’s also another 2,000 feet racers use as a buffer.
Sad news, RIP Bill.