Bill Warner rode motorcycles at speeds few people have reached on land.

Sunday, the racer from Wimauma was fatally injured while trying to top 300 mph at a former air force base in northern Maine.

Warner, 44, was clocked at 285 mph before he lost control of his modified motorcycle. It's unclear how fast he was actually going when the motorcycle veered off the runway and crashed, said Tim Kelly, race director for the Loring Timing Association.

"No one will touch Bill's achievements or be the type of racer he was," said Kelly, whose organization hosted "The Maine Event" at Loring Air Force base. "He was a personal friend, and the land-racing community is less for his loss."

Riding his turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa, Warner previously hit 311 mph on the same course in 2011, using 1.5 miles of pavement. That's considered to be the world land speed record for a conventional motorcycle, Kelly said.

This time he was trying to hit 300 mph using just a mile of pavement, and he'd made several passes before the one in which he crashed, Kelly said. He was thrown 40 feet in the air and 100 yards down the track.

He was conscious and talking after the crash just before 10 a.m., Kelly said, but he died about an hour and 15 minutes later at a hospital in Caribou.

Experienced racers believe mechanical trouble may have caused Warner to veer off the track suddenly.

Warner owned Warner Aquatic Resources, a tropical fish business in Wimauma, according to the Tampa Bay Times. On his Facebook page, he wrote that he attended high school in Little Falls, N.Y., and that he moved to this area to attend the University of Tampa, the Times said.

The Maine Event is an annual timed speed event that utilizes the 14,200-foot-long runway at the former Strategic Air Command base that closed in 1994. The Loring Timing Association uses 2.5 miles of the runway for its events, and there's an additional buffer of 2,000 feet, Kelly said.

On Sunday, about 400 spectators watched as Warner began veering right after passing the 1-mile mark, traveling upright for another 2,000 feet before exiting the runway and crashing, Kelly said.

Warner was conscious and talking after the crash just before 10 a.m., Kelly said, but he died about an hour and 15 minutes later at a hospital in Caribou.

The remainder of Sunday's event was canceled. The Limestone Police Department and Maine State Police were investigating the crash.

The late racer graduated in 1991 from the University of Tampa where he studied marine biology. The thrill of racing motorcycles is what friends say Warner loved most.
 
"I think he was like an Evil Knievel-type of guy, he just loved it," said Roger Feitshans.

"He said it was the adrenaline rush that he did it and he had a passion for racing," said Debbie Acevedo.

The racing both intrigued and worried friends. Warner showed them injuries from previous crashes.

"He said you've gotta overcome your fears and the best way to do it is get back up and do it again,” said Acevedo.

People say the racer was a great neighbor who will be missed.

"He was doing what he loved," said Acevedo. "It's just a tragedy that it took his life, so it's very sad."

Information from the Associated Press was included in this report.