Aussie sets land speed record at Bonneville
Fastest wheat farmer in the world?Australian Greg Watters has broken an 18-year-old motorcycle land speed record at the 2008 World of Speed event in Bonneville, Utah.
The wheat farmer, who hails from Wunghnu (pronounced "one ewe") in country Victoria, broke the record in a 750cc class (MPS-BG) on his turbocharged Suzuki on the famous salt flats.
His new record sits at 212.404mph, surpassing American Scott Guthrie's 193.351mph benchmark from 1990.
Watters is one of only four men to have broken the 200mph barrier in the 750cc open-wheeled classes in over 60 years.
Watters didn't think he'd ever get to compete at Bonneville.
"For a while I thought competing was beyond my reach, but this year I decided it had to be done at some time," he told ABC radio. "Because it costs so much to get a bike over there, I bought a bike on Ebay and stripped the parts I had been testing here and took them with me in a suitcase.
"There were a few little glitches that we overcame (during set-up), but it all went onto go faster than I'd hoped.
"The Americans were a little bit surprised when I set the records, as they expected to be blow up or something to happen. But they were also happy for me when I did well."
Watters has let his Suzuki in America, and plans to return to Bonneville in 2009.
For all the results from World of Speed, click here.
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