TWO grieving families are struggling to come to terms with the sudden loss of their sons in a tragic motorcycle accident at the weekend.
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Andrew Colin James, 22, and his mate Linden Raymond Weir, 22, had their lives cut tragically short on Saturday when their Yamaha and Kawasaki trail bikes collided on unsealed road about 50km east of Glen Innes.
The pair were part of a group of five mates riding trail bikes on the Old Grafton Rd at Wytaliba at about 1pm when they collided.
The tragedy has shattered both families, who were meant to be celebrating Mother's Day on Sunday with the boys, but instead were left grieving the loss of two promising young men.
"He was the baby of our family," Rochelle Weir, Linden's mother, said.
"It has just been a very hard, very hard Mother's Day. Our boy will be sadly missed by his family and friends.
"We can't believe he is gone."
The two mates, along with the rest of the group, were all keen dirt bike riders, according to Andrew's father Peter, who described his son as mad on motorsports and outdoor
activities.
"We are just devastated," Mr James said.
"You don't expect anything like this to ever happen to you. You don't expect your children to go before you. The last thing Andrew said to us was "I'm going for a quick ride, I'll be back in a couple of hours.
"Now he's never coming back."
Glen Innes police officer Senior Constable Brian Bowman said the exact cause of the crash is still being investigated, but it appeared the two men collided while riding in opposite directions.
"At this stage it appears three motorbike riders were riding on an unsealed section of the Old Grafton Rd about 1pm when one of the men left the group to go back to the road to search for a lost riding glove," Senior Constable Bowman said.
"It is understood one of the other riders left the remaining rider and set off up the road, in the same direction, to check on his mate.
"In the meantime, the first rider to leave was riding back down the road and it appears the two riders collided with each other. We don't know whether it was a head-on collision at this stage.
"The other riders administered first-aid until help arrived, but both young men died at the scene as a result of the injuries sustained in the crash."
