Another article I saw said this was a Honda 1000. The early Suzy Hayabusas were rumored to be capable of 200 and maybe + a hair, but actual tests I've seen went around 194. The difference of each mile per hour at those speeds is extremely big; the horsepower needed increases exponentially at higher speeds with the incredible amount of wind resistance. Either this guy had a big huge pile of money into the bike, or the cop timed it wrong (he is quoted as timing between two markers and doing the math, and I believe he only timed it one time, and any error in clicking his stopwatch would result in probably substantial calculated speed differences)

 

I work for the Minnesota Department of Transportation and our safety person interviewed the pilot. He supposedly checked it more than once because he didn't believe it either. He also said the plane was having trouble keeping up to him. You are right though about the timing, A couple hundreths of a second error on the timing could add up to quite a bit at that speed I would think.