Port Angeles teen who died in Oregon dunes collision was honor student, motorcycle racing fan
Published 12:01 am Sunday, August 12, 2012
PORT ANGELES — Mason Ziegler, a 16-year-old Port Angeles High School honor student and an avid motorcyclist, has died in a motorcycle crash at Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.
The crash was on Thursday.
“Mason was a wonderful kid,” said Tom Rush, president of the Olympic Peninsula Motorcycle Club, on Saturday.
Ziegler often rode on the club’s track off Deer Park Road.
“He was a good rider,” Rush said.
“He loved the sport. He loved to ride. It’s all he wanted to do.”
Friends and family organized a bonfire vigil at the club’s track on Saturday night.
The Douglas County [Ore.] Sheriff’s Office said Ziegler was killed when the KTM motorcycle he was riding collided with a Polaris RZR side-by-side ATV driven by 45-year-old Christopher Cowen of Springfield, Ore.
Cowen suffered minor injuries but did not need medical attention, the sheriff’s office said.
Cowen’s 22-year-old passenger, his daughter Amy, was treated for minor injuries at a nearby hospital, the office said.
“The crash occurred when the motorcycle was jumping over a dune and collided with the ATV which was climbing up the other side,” according to a Douglas County Sheriff’s Office bulletin.
Ziegler was wearing a helmet, sheriff’s spokesman Dwes Hutson said.
Ziegler made the Port Angeles High School honor roll as a sophomore last semester.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345 ext. 5072 or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
