Two days after celebrating victory at the Frankie Boodram Wallerfield International Raceway, Lex Chunilal became the second motorcyclist to be killed this week when his bike collided with a pick-up in Siparia.
Chunilal, 27, of Coora Road, Siparia, had just finished liming with friends at a gas station along the SS Erin Road and while riding home on his Kawasaki ZX 10, he crashed into a grey Nissan Navarra pick-up driven by Palo Seco rig operator, Darrel Joseph, on Tuesday night.
With the impact throwing him off the bike, causing his head to crash into a metal pole, Chunilal died within an hour.
Reports stated that around 9.05 pm, he was driving east along High Street and as he reached First Citizens bank, he collided with the pick-up. Joseph told police that he was about to drive into the bank’s carpark when a car driving in the opposite direction stopped for him to proceed.
He said it was when Chunilal attempted to overtake the car that the accident occurred. However, Chunilal’s colleague from the E=mc2 rider’s crew, Lester Thorpe said the bike slammed into a wall and Chunilal hit a post in the carpark.
“We ran to him trying to make sure he was okay and two of us went to the police station,” Thorpe said.
He said police warned if they tried to move him, they could have caused him further injury. He said even though the Siparia District Health Facility was a short distance away, an ambulance arrived 45 minutes later.
He said it was just Sunday that Chunilal won an open category drag race at Wallerfield for his garage, Tune Tech Performance Club.
Relatives at Chunilal’s home were distraught over his death. His sister Lia said he was an operator at Atlantic and was the sole breadwinner of their family.
She said their father had to stop working after suffering a stroke and their mother was a housewife. She said he also took care of her and his younger sister.
Just Sunday, motorcyclist Clarence Smythe, 32, of Lendore Village, Chaguanas, died in a road accident in Chase Village.