Dirt bike rider fatally injured in crash near Mountain Center

MOUNTAIN CENTER (CNS) - A young man riding his dirt bike just west of Mountain Center was fatally injured today when he lost control and crashed, possibly while intoxicated, after failing to negotiate a bend in the road.

The crash was reported at 6:25 a.m. Friday in the area of McCall Park Road and Vista Way, within the San Bernardino National Forest, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Officer Ricardo Palomera said that the rider, identified only as a 21-year-old Hemet man, was aboard a Honda CRF450R Motocross, traveling at an unconfirmed speed along McCall Park, when he came to a curve near Vista Way and ``lost control and left the roadway.''

``The Honda overturned, and the rider was subsequently ejected from the dirt bike,'' Palomera said. ``He was not wearing a helmet.'' Riverside County Fire Department paramedics reached the location a
short time later and pronounced the victim dead at the scene.

``Alcohol is believed to be a factor in the crash,'' the CHP spokesman said.

Anyone with information relevant to the investigation was asked to contact the agency's Beaumont office at 951-846-5300.