It is with heavy hearts that we can now make this official announcement regarding Round 3, this previous weekend.

In morning practice on 6/20/21, during the WMRRA Round 3 event at The Ridge Motorsports Park, rider #870 Sam Crawford was involved in a single bike incident in Turn 10, which ultimately claimed his life.

The practice session was immediately halted by race control and corner-worker staff, and priority medical response was deployed without delay. Sam was unconscious and unresponsive when first responders arrived on scene.

Trained race-day staff, with on-site medical teams performed CPR and worked to stabilize Sam prior to his transport to Mason General, where he was to meet an air-transport to Seattle. Sadly, during the transit to Mason General, Sam’s pulse was lost, and the medical teams could not revive him.

Sam was well known within the WMRRA paddock for many years as his brother’s (Rich Kim) personal cheerleader, a volunteer, and really just an all-around nice guy. Sam participated in the WMRRA NRS in 2020, and successfully completed all his novice graduation requirements, receiving the Race-Director’s final sign-off signature, Saturday night.

Sam was one of those ‘cool’ guys with a good poker face, but he could not hide his smile when he achieved his goal of becoming an ‘Expert’ rider. When Sam mounted his machine Sunday morning, he did it with pride of making his goal, and even prodding Rich to come race again so they could go out together.

As a final act of self-giving, Sam was also an organ donor and parts of him will live on, saving the lives of deserving folks who are in need. Rich asks that we celebrate Sam’s life, and that if anyone needs help coping with this loss to reach out if they need help.

We are all better people for having known Sam, and we will do our best to honor his contributions to our community and family.

We do understand that speculation and inaccuracies are bound to arise in the absence of absolute facts. If you have questions, please direct them to the E-board, and we will provide direct answers. Please respect Sam’s memory, and his family by not engaging in gross speculation, or other rumors that may be discussed.

For information on becoming an organ donor, please visit this link. https://www.organdonor.gov/

Ride easy Sam. We will miss you.