YAKIMA COUNTY -- An Oregon City man is dead after being thrown from his motorcycle at the Northwest Nitro Nationals Pro Hill Climb event.
It happened around 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning, off of Highway 24 and Highway 241, just east of Moxee.
Yakima County Sheriff's deputies say 44-year-old Shane Donaca received major head trauma. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Deputies say Donaca was testing his custom Banshee hill climb motorcycle after he had changed a spark plug and adjusted the engine. While driving the motorcycle he missed a sunken area of a wash bed and was he was went over the handlebars and landed on the ground, deputies said.
He was not competing at the time of the accident.
"The tragedy that did happen this morning, it was non-race related and the event will go on. It's sad that it happened. We have thoughts and prayers for the family that the tragedy happened to," said event promoter Jeff Snipes.
The East Valley Fire Department, Hanford Fire Department, ALS, Life Flight and the Washington State Patrol were the responding agencies to the accident.
Snipes says the three-day event draws in more than 4,000 people from all across the country. There are approximately 400 racers participating. The main event starts at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday.
