[SE3P_to_E90]

Brief background: I was driving back from Florida from my vacation, and had been driving consistently at 75mph (as per my garmin navigation). I got to North Carolina, and was the 3rd (and last of the bunch) car on the left lane traveling at approximately 72-76mph in a 65mph zone... I wasn't tailgating, or doing anything illegal (that I was aware of). Then, all of a sudden, a cop in the middle divider comes onto the road, all three cars in the left lane merge into the right, and the cop just gets behind me and puts his lights on. I pulled over.

Cop: "Is there a reason you were speeding?"
Me: "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that I was speeding officer... I was just following the flow of traffic."
Cop: "You were going over 80mph, but I booked you at 80mph already. License, registration, insurance."
Me: [As i hand over my information] "But officer, I didn't go over 75mph."
Cop: "Hang tight, I'll be right back." [walks away with my information]

Cop then comes back with a citation...

Cop: "I wrote you a citation for doing 80mph in a 65mph zone."
Me: "But, I wasn't traveling at that rate of speed... How did you get my speed? Was it via radar or laser?"
Cop: "I got you with radar."
Me: [remembering a cop once telling me... if a cop books you with a radar gun, he has to give you a print out of the speed reading on the gun] "Do you have some sort of proof that I was going that fast? Do you have a receipt of the radar gun printout showing my speed?"
Cop: "This citation is the printout. Have a safe trip."

Cop walks away...

So now, I'm stuck with this dilemma... I wasn't going that fast, but it would be pretty much impossible for me to drive down to the bottom of NC to go to court with this... Do I need to hire an attorney? I heard that the NYS Drivers don't get points from tickets issued out of state... However, there is a chance that the insurance companies might fight out -- hence, raising my premiums...

Should I just pay the ticket off? Or, do I need to hire an attorney to plea bargain this ticket down in order to avoid my insurance company from finding out?

If you have any knowledge with this matter, please chime in. Thanks in advance for your help guys.