Speeding Motorcycle Flips, Hurling Driver to His Death
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IRVINE — A 21-year-old Orange man was killed instantly early Wednesday morning when he lost control of his speeding motorcycle, which flipped at a freeway interchange and sent him flying more than 200 feet into a grassy embankment.
Michael S. Ward was pronounced dead at the scene of the 12:30 a.m. accident, which occurred at the interchange of the Corona del Mar and Costa Mesa freeways, California Highway Patrol Officer Linda Burrus said.
Ward was driving his 1989 Honda CBR motorcycle north on the Corona del Mar Freeway and speeding when he entered the ramp to the northbound Costa Mesa Freeway, Burrus said.
Ward lost control of the motorcycle, which struck a guardrail and flipped out from under him, sending Ward over the guardrail, over the Baker Street off-ramp and into an embankment 200 feet away, she said. There were no witnesses.
Ward was found a short time later by a motorist traveling in the same direction, who had stopped to move the motorcycle from the road.
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