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Richard Assen says piloting the A-Ward attachment teams’ custom-modified Suzuki Hayabusa at up to 400km/h is incredibly exhilarating.

Three kiwis have followed in Bert Munro’s footsteps and set a new world speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, America.  The A-Ward Attachment Team set a new world record for the SCTA (Southern California Timing Association; the same sanctioning body as the one in the Bert Munro story) and the AMA (American Motorcycle Association) record.

The previous record was 242.6mph (390.4km/h) and the A-Ward team raised the bar to a new SCTA record at an average speed for the two runs over one mile of 248.514mph (399.86km/h) with a one way speed of 249.1mph (400.802km/h).

This speed confirmed rider Richard Assen’s acceptance into the 200mph club, which was fewer members than climbers of Mt Everest.  The other record set was the AMA record for a 1350cc blown fuel motorbike.

Assen is in his mid 30’s and is a passionate bike builder in his spare time.  He had a goal of being the first New Zealander to go faster than 400km/h.

Jason Swan, the bike tuner, also in his mid 30’s, works at Auckland Performance Tuning in Papakura and has worked on performance vehicles all his life.  He’s built rally cars in the middle east, worked on Formula One cars and is also the tuner for the A-Ward V8 ute racing team.