KEY POINTS:
An 18-year-old motorcyclist and father is dead and one of his best friends is in hospital with serious leg and internal injuries after the pair collided head-on during what police suspect was an alcohol-fuelled road race.
Police would not confirm the identity of the dead teenager, but the Herald on Sunday has learned he was father-of-one Corin Litchfield, who worked as a farm manager.
Yesterday, his grandmother Shirley Litchfield spoke of the tragic loss of "a capable and responsible young man", who was "a great dad" to his three-year-old son, Hamish.
"He was a darned good little fellow - and a jolly good worker, too. He loved his farm work, he loved animals, and his family. He had so many mates."
The death is another black mark against boy racers, coming in the same week 19-year-old Jeffrey Douglas Luke was sentenced to 20 months' jail for the manslaughter of Scott Finn at Mt Maunganui during an illegal street race in May.
Senior Sergeant Ian Campion said preliminary inquiries had established that the bikes - neither of which was permitted on the roads - had been travelling in opposite directions down Collins Lane, an access road with a small number of packhouses in the area, when they collided at around 9.15pm on Friday.
Neither bike was fitted with headlights and police believe the teenagers may have been drinking earlier that night.
The bikes did not have suitable road tyres or comply with warrant of fitness standards, Campion said.
Litchfield's family denied alcohol was a factor in the crash.
"They may have had a little bit to drink but they definitely weren't boozed," his grandmother said.
"It had nothing to do with it. That's just hogswash. Corin and his mates just have fun every night, riding their bikes around the paddocks and they decided to go down that road for some reason. It was getting a bit dark. It was just a freak accident."
She said Corin's partner Renee, parents Michael and Carol and sister Sarah were struggling to come to terms with what had happened.
His 3-year-old son was the light of Corin's life and did not know where dad had gone. "The little one doesn't know anything yet. It will be so hard for him to understand."
The family were waiting for the completion of an autopsy before they could plan a funeral service.
Litchfield's employer, Cor Verwey, said the two teenagers had been "racing up and down the road" before the collision occurred.
