A motorcyclist who was fatally injured after hitting a guardrail, plunging down an embankment and landing in rocks along the Ortega (74) Highway near Lake Elsinore was identified Monday.
Mark Gray, 45, of Huntington Beach was killed about 9 a.m. Sunday on the eastbound 74, roughly a mile east of Decker Canyon Road, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Officer Mike Lassig said that Gray was going about 55 mph when he “made an unsafe turning movement” at a bend in the two-lane corridor, causing his 2017 Kawasaki Z900 to strike the roadside guardrail, at which point the motorcycle went over the side and “traveled down a steep descending embankment covered in heavy brush and rocks.”
No other vehicles were involved.
CHP officers and Riverside County Fire Department crews reached the location within a few minutes, and firefighters climbed down to the crash site, according to Lassig.
He said the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Lassig noted that Gray had been wearing his helmet.
“The CHP would like to remind all motorists and motorcyclists to travel at a safe and prudent speed, while keeping a high visual horizon in order to maintain safety,” the CHP spokesman said.