BELLEVUE, Wash. -- The state patrol is cracking down on unsafe motorcyclists after a record 82 motorcycle drivers were killed last year.

Officials say the majority of motorcycle deaths happen on dry, sunny spring and summer days. So, as temperatures passed 80 degrees on Tuesday, troopers wanted to show us what it's like out there on the roads.

It turned into one wild ride.

As we rode along Interstate 405 with Trooper Kirk Rudeen, he got word that a motorcycle was coming up behind him at 76 miles per hour.

Rudeen pulled onto I-405 just ahead of it, put on his lights and signaled for the motorcyclist to pull over.

But the motorcycle didn't stop.

Rudeen accelerated to 100 miles per hour but pulled back as traffic became heavy, and the motorcycle was able to speed out of sight.

"We're gonna lose him," Rudeen said.  And as I-405 approached 522, the motorcyclist was nowhere to be seen.

But the state patrol has a secret weapon in the skies. A plane overhead was tracking every move.

"Speed is 110 right now, going to 120," a voice from the plane said through Rudeen's radio. "In the right lane, moving erratically."

The pilot guides troopers through a few turns then tells them, "He pulled into a dead-end parking lot, between green and white cars."

As the troopers pull up, the pilot says, "That's him. You got him."

The motorcyclist shakes his head and goes to the ground as he is handcuffed.

Sensing the man's befuddlement at how he was found, a trooper pointed up to the sky to show the man the plane that followed him. "See that airplane up there?" the trooper said.

Another trooper told us what the 21-year-old driver said as he was put into the back of the patrol car: "He just said he was really stupid. Can't believe how stupid he was."

This driver was lucky it didn't end much worse.

"The aircraft had him at speeds probably up close to 140 miles an hour," Trooper Rudeen said. "Passing traffic, in and out of traffic. Driving like that is asking to crash and be killed.

"These bikes are extremely fast. Extremely powerful. This bike off the showroom floor will do 160, 170. The problem is, at that speed, the riders can't handle the bike."

Of the 82 motorcycle deaths last year, the top reasons were losing control in the lanes, speeding, alcohol and not paying attention.

Troopers don't want to see another record in deaths this year.

"This guy's going to jail," Rudeen said. "He's getting booked for felony eluding and his motorcycle's getting impounded."

More people are buying motorcycles, in part because of rising gas prices. Troopers say that's fine, but drivers should take a safety course and need to have a motorcycle endorsement on their driver's license.