Caught on his own camera - the motorcyclist flung from his bike at nearly 120mph

This is the shocking moment a motorcyclist was flung from his bike after crashing at nearly 120mph.

Nicholas Pannell was caught racing fellow rider Joshua Illingworth at up to three times the speed limit by footage from his own helmet camera.

Both men narrowly avoided jail sentences after pleading guilty to dangerous driving.

They were both sentenced to eight months imprisonment, suspended for two years, at Plymouth Crown Court, as well as being disqualified from driving for 12 months, ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid and pay a victim surcharge of £140.

Pannell, 29, from Plymouth, Devon, and 30-year-old Illingworth, from Paignton, Devon, were brought to justice after police recovered Pannell’s detached GoPro from the scene of the crash near Modbury in Devon on July 2 last year.

The footage shows Pannell racing Illingworth on his powerful KTM motorbike.

MORE: Landscaper’s ‘superhuman strength’ saved his life after he got stuck under a dumper truck
MORE: Murder probe after man dies six months after ‘mindless’ attack in Trafalgar Square

The pair are seen to frequently overtake in the face of oncoming traffic, crossing over single and even double white lines and prosecutors told the court that the speedometer on Pannell’s KTM read 90mph in a 30mph zone, 102mph in a 40mph zone and 118mph on country roads where the national speed limit applied.

The footage of the crash shows Pannell steer into one corner too early, missing the apex and hitting the grass verge, shouting “Oh s***, oh s***, s***, s***” as he is catapulted from his motorbike.

While he was recovering in hospital after suffering a fracture to his clavicle, fractures to his ribs and damage to his ventricle, police found footage of the race on his GoPro which was found at the scene.

Prosecutor Nigel Hall told Recorder Simon Levene that the list of violations during the ride was so long that investigating officers gave up writing them all.

Both men pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at a hearing on January 3.

Sgt Olly Tayler, from Devon and Cornwall Police, said the case was “at the top end of dangerous driving” and was a “stark warning” to those who felt they could drive dangerously “without fear of consequence”.

He said: “I was absolutely shocked when I first saw the footage; the duration and speed of the travel, coupled with the careless overtaking and disregard for road markings left me speechless.

“The consequences of this incident could have been a lot worse and I’m in no doubt that the two defendants here today have learnt a very hard lesson.”