SAITAMA – A Japanese rider has smashed the world record for the longest continuous wheelie after keeping his Yamaha Jog scooter on its rear wheel for just over 500km at the Kawaguchi Auto Race facility in Saitama, Japan.
The precise distance covered by 33-year-old Masaru Abe is 500.5322 km, smashing the previous record of 331.0195 km set by motorcycle trials rider Yasuyuki Kudo in 1991.
Abe beat the old record after 8 hours, 18 minutes and 43 seconds on the back wheel and was actually aiming for a 600km wheelie but after 13 hours, the pain and discomfort became too much and Abe set the front down to claim his place in the record books, the UK’s Visordown reported.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4GkekMocNQ&feature=youtu.be
Alongside overcoming pain, Abe also had to content with the slopes on and wind on Kawaguchi’s oval track, as he held a speed of 40k/ph.
“I thought if I was going to try and break the record, then I would have to post unattainable numbers that would leave people totally speechless,” Abe said after his world-beating wheelie.
“That was the most pain I’ve ever felt. Both of my arms were numb from the pain and I had lost feeling in them.
“My vision was blurred… I was only partially conscious. I was completely dehydrated. I’d never experienced that before.”
Fuel was an issue during the record attempt and Abe’s support crew reportedly had to run alongside and hand him a refuelling unit, which plugged into a quick-release dry coupling on the handlebar.
Abe isn’t the only rider who has been setting records on one wheel. In September 2016, twelve times world trials champion Dougie Lampkin wheelied the entire length of the Isle of Man TT course. In that feat, Lampkin became the first man to ever wheelie the 60.72 km mountain course.
