BMX Pro racer Kyle Bennett died in an automotive accident last night. The GHP racer, who participated at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, was 33 years old. Kyle was the 2002, 2003 and 2007 Elite Men world champion. Kyle raced for Standard Bikes, S&M, Nirve, FreeAgent and made the switch to GHP this year. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family. Times are tough.
Kyle Bennett, a 2008 Olympic BMX athlete, died early Sunday in a single-vehicle accident, USA Cycling announced.
Bennett, 33, crashed his truck in his hometown of Conroe, Texas. At 2:16 a.m. Sunday, Bennett's 2006 Toyota Tundra went off the road into a ditch and crashed into a pipe and through an iron gate at a residence, The Montgomery County Police Reporter reported on its website.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, the newspaper reported. The paper reported that he was not wearing a seat belt and was driving at a high rate of speed, according to police.
Bennett was a three-time world champion and won the automatic spot on the 2008 Olympic team.
He did not advance out of the semifinals at the Beijing Games, where BMX made its Olympic debut. U.S. teammates Mike Day and Donny Robinson won silver and bronze respectively.
Bennett got his start in BMX at age 7 and was raised by his grandparents in Conroe, north of Houston. They drove him all over the South for competitions and turned their back yard into a course for Bennett to practice.
From the Montgomery County Police website:
“Accounts from the scene said that Kyle’s 2006 Toyota Tundra pickup left the roadway, while traveling at a high rate of speed and impacted a wrought iron gate, a culvert pipe and several trees, before coming to a stop, upside down in a residential subdivision. Kyle was alone in the vehicle, and no other vehicles were involved.
KB may have been en route to the location of a business, where his fiancé’s car was reportedly broken into. Police at the scene reported that Kyle was not wearing his seatbelt when the accident occurred.”