Man killed in motocross bike accident named

Waimate man Daniel Charles Down was killed in a motocross bike accident on Coal Pit Rd on Sunday night. Photo / Rebecca Ryan

Police have named the Waimate man who was killed in a motocross bike accident on Sunday night as 30-year-old Daniel Charles Down.

Waimate Constable Paul Alden said that sometime between 9pm and 9.25pm on Sunday, Mr Down and a 23-year-old colleague took their motocross bikes out on Coal Pit Rd, a shingle road off State Highway 82.

"They had been having a barbecue on the farm and decided to go for a ride, and between 9pm and 9.30pm it was starting to get a bit dark,'' he said. "They were driving towards each other, and we're still not sure what happened, but they have collided and both have come off their bikes.

"The wife of one rider and partner of the other went looking for the men and found them at the crash scene at about 9.25pm.

"When they hadn't heard the bikes for a bit and it was getting quite dark, they went looking for them,'' Mr Alden said.

The men were found about 500 metres from the intersection of Coal Pit Rd and State Highway 82, southwest of Waimate.

Mr Down, a dairy farm worker, was dead at the scene, while the 23-year-old Waimate man was airlifted to Timaru Hospital with serious injuries.

Mr Alden said both men had been wearing helmets.

Inquires were continuing.