Carpinteria Motorcyclist, 25, Dies in Highway Crash

A 25-year-old man was killed instantly Saturday evening when he lost control of his motorcycle and crashed into a guardrail on California 150 between Carpinteria and Lake Casitas, authorities said.

Ian Thompson of Carpinteria was driving a high-performance sports motorcycle east on the highway when he crashed shortly after 5 p.m., about five miles east of the Ventura Freeway, California Highway Patrol officers said.

Officers and witnesses said Thompson had passed a car at a high speed and may have had trouble negotiating an uphill curve in the road. Thompson and the motorcycle were found on the shoulder of the eastbound lane. Thompson had been wearing a helmet, but the impact caused head and internal injuries and possibly a broken neck, said Capt. Paul Ekstrom of the Carpinteria Summerland Fire Department.

“He was probably just going too fast and probably just couldn’t handle the turn,” Ekstrom said.

Emergency vehicles that responded to the scene blocked the eastbound lane for about an hour, causing minor congestion, Ekstrom said. The scene was cleared by 8 p.m., officers said.

California 150 is a scenic but winding two-lane road that runs from Carpinteria around the northern edge of Lake Casitas and into Ojai.