The 11th annual World Wheelie Championship ran in the UK a few days back and saw a new record set, at 343.3 km/h.
To earn his record, Dutch rider Egbert Van Popta had to hold a wheelie for a straight kilometre; he was judged on his exit speed at the end of that distance. He took the record from Gary Rothwell, who’d set a 337.676 km/h record last September. This year, Rothwell finished second, with a 331.6 km/h speed.
Van Popta used a heavily modified Suzuki Hayabusa to set this year’s record. The event was run by the Straightliners club — find out more about them at their web page here. This year’s event saw more than 30 riders attend. The rules for their wheelie record attempts are listed here. Although the big news is obviously the high-speed stuff, they have several classes, including an opportunity for riders on bone stock motorcycles.
