PORT ANGELES — A memorial bonfire for a 16-year-old Port Angeles boy who died in a motorcycle wreck in Oregon on Thursday will be held at the Olympic Peninsula Motorcycle Club track on Deer Park Road at 8 p.m. today.
Mason Ziegler, a Port Angeles High School student and an avid motorcyclist, died in a crash at Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area on the Oregon coast Thursday evening.
“Mason was a wonderful kid,” said Tom Rush, president of the Olympic Peninsula Motorcycle Club.
“He was a good rider. He loved the sport. He loved to ride. It’s all he wanted to do.”
Friends and family are invited to attend the bonfire and balloon send-off for Ziegler at the track, located at 1306 Deer Park Road. The track is on the right just past a big blue building on the left about 1.3 miles up Deer Park Road.
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. Cowen’s 22-year-old passenger, his daughter Amy, was treated for minor injuries at a nearby hospital.
“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.
He 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.
