Bike Week

Headline Surfer® celebrating 5th anniversary by recognizing outstanding individuals

Photo for Headline Surfer® /

DAYTONA BEACH -- Bike Week starts Friday and what better way to introduce the nation's largest motorcycle rally than recognizing Michael Politis, selected as one of the Headline Surfer® recipients of a lifetime achievement award for service to greater Daytona Beach for his motorcycle safety advocacy and biker rights.

DAYTONA BEACH -- A 63-year-old Palm Coast motorcyclist died at Halifax Medical Center shortly after another biker turned into his lane Wednesday night on International Speedway Boulevard and made contact with his Kawasaki, Daytona Beach police said. This was the fifth Bike Week fatality.

Bruce Wynne was riding west on ISB near Williamson Boulevard when his rear tire was clipped by Thomas Castaldo, 57, of Kernersville, N.C, when he turned into the victim's lne, police said, resulting in Wynne's bike going down.

PORT ORANGE -- A Winter Springs motorcyclist became the fourth Bike Week traffic fatality Monday night in a collision with a car on Dunlawton Avenue at the intersection with North Swallowtail Drive, Port Orange police said.

The biker, Thomas J. Niedziejka, 63, died early this morning, less than eight hours after the crash. The victim was riding his 2012 Harley-Davidson without a helmet westbound on Dunlawton in the center lane when Ruthann K. Mscisz, 68, of Daytona Beach Shores, was turning her 1999 Infiniti 4-door onto Dunlawton after stopping at the intersection and onto Dunlawton, police said.

PIERSON -- A 61-year-old Concord, N.C. man killed Sunday on Bunnell Road just east of Seville when he crashed his Harley-Davidson into a fence, has been identified as Jack Norman, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Norman may have been speeding when he lost control of his 2005 Harley on a curve and left the roadway, the FHP said this morning. After striking the fence, Norman, who was not wearing a helmet, was thrown from the bike, which then caught fire. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the 4:35 p.m. accident. Alcohol may have been a factor, according to an initial highway patrol report This was the first motorcycle fatality in Volusia County since the start of Bike Week 2012, which got under way Friday.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla -- Already with the opening three-day weekend of Bike Week gone, two bikers have lost their lives -- one near Pierson and the other in Orlando, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Ed Schmidt of Pittsburgh is the first to admit he should be wearing a helmet. But he's not. Then again, some revelers aren't wearing much in the way of clothing either.