Sturgis Rally Reports First Deaths; Attendance Tops 200,000

     STURGIS - The 80th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has suffered its first two fatalities in a collision involving 3 motorcycles. The South Dakota Highway Patrol says names have not been released.

       The Patrol says the accident occured at 5:15 Monday evening about 3 miles west of Sturgis on Hwy 14A when a westbound rider failed to negotiate a curve and crossed the center line.

       The 22-year old man collided with 2 oncoming bikes ridden by men 55 and 60-years old. The 55-year old was pronounced dead at the scene while the 22-year old died at a Rapid City hospital, where he'd been airlifted.

       The 60-year old man suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries. None of the 3 was wearing a helmet, which is not required in South Dakota.

         The Highway Patrol says the number of accidents after the first 4 days of the Rally is up by nearly half, from 34 to 51, with the number of injury accidents increasing to 28 from 18.

        There have been fewer arrests for serious offenses with 64 DUII arrests and 54 felony drug arrests, down 8 and 2 respectively. Minor drug arrests and total citations issued are both up with total citations about 8% to 595.

       Meanwhile, attendance at the Rally continues to be much higher than predicted, although lower than last year when nearly a half-million people came to Sturgis.

      Monday's total, based on SD Dept of Transportation counts at 9 sites coming into Sturgis, was down 6.8% from last year at 56,972 but the total for the first 4 days is down only 4.6% or about 10,500 at nearly 218,000. This year's official forecast is just 250,000