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What Ivan “Stunt 46″ Sirka of Hillsdale didn’t know was that Hoeffner had spotted him earlier that night stopped on the shoulder of the southbound 168 entrance ramp to the parkway, State Police Capt. Gerald Lewis told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
Hoeffner, who’s assigned to the Bloomfield barracks, saw that Sirka was OK but took down the license plate number of the red 2002 Honda CR9, Lewis said.
“Several minutes later, the motorcycle comes up behind him and starts tailgating,” the captain told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “Then the motorcycle passes him at a high rate of speed.
“It was almost like this guy was trying to bait him into a pursuit.”
Curiously, Hoeffner could no longer see a rear plate, Lewis said. It was as if it had vanished.
So he investigated.
As the trooper pulled up to Sirka’s house yesterday, he immediately spotted the cycle, which he had impounded.
And although Sirka was startled to be found, he had a surprise of his own for the trooper:
It was “an electronic switch on the handlebar that was rigged to make the license plate drop down parallel to the roadway,” Lewis told CLIFFVIEW PILOT, “so you couldn’t see the plate number or the state
“It was like something out of a James Bond movie,” he said.
According to his MySpace page, Sirka — also known as the “Jersey Ghost Rider” — lost his license for several months early last year, and fractured his kneecap after being “T-boned” by a driver who he said ran a red light.
He began doing stunts on bicycles, then quickly moved to motor power — posting videos of himself doing wheelies on New Jersey highways.
Buddy Nick Potoczny spoke highly of Sirka:
“Last winter we went on a Skyline Drive run with our cars. On the way back I was doing some highway pulls and blew my transmission. He waited on the side of 208 in below-freezing conditions for the tow truck.
Sirka is “definitely crazy and reckless on his bike, but that’s how it is on the streets with a fast vehicle. Ivan’s a great guy and friend and I hope he walks out of this OK.”
Hoeffner took Sirka into custody Wednesday and charged him with plate tampering. He also received summonses for speeding and wreckless driving.
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