The first time I met Kevin we were at an outdoors bonfire at some friends house near Easton WA. He and his wife (GF at the time) were there. I didn't know who he was at the time but we spoke about dirtbikes, racing, and snowmobiles for probably an hour. Never once did he mention that he had won the Desert 100 that year, etc etc. Then I learned from somebody else that he was Kevin Parks, one of the fastest around. I thought to myself the next day about what a class act guy he was. His modesty was almost as impressive as his riding ability. It's always the good ones that go. How sad. We'll all miss him.

Thoughts and prayers to kevins Family and freinds, Godbless

We got the news from Mike (MX813) in our pits right after it happened. We were shocked and saddened and none of us wanted to get back on our bikes.

Our prayers are with the Parks family.

-Pete

This news hit me pretty hard when I got it, I felt pretty helpless because I wasn't able to be there for my friends in such a tough time. Here is something I wrote to try to get my thoughts out a little bit....

This was a tragic weekend for the motorcycle community. We lost a great person, friend and racer.

Kevin Parks had a bad crash on Saturday, Oct 31 and has gone on to a better place. Even as I sit here writing this it just doesn’t seem real, these types of things just aren’t supposed to happen. Another tough reminder of just how fragile life can be, here one minute and gone the next...

After terrible things like this, we are always reminded of and talk about how we never know when it's going to be our turn and that we need to live life to the fullest. To me, Kevin was a perfect example of living life to its fullest. I've been racing with Kevin for quite a few years now, but he wasn't the typical racer who did nothing but race. He enjoyed so many other things in life that he only raced a few times a year, but when he was there; you knew he was going to be upfront making the most of it. He truly put everything he had in to every race because he knew it might be a while before he raced again.

Through all the years and all the races, I can only think of a hand full of times that I remember him getting beat...I think this can be attributed to his amazing talent as a motorcycle rider as well as him putting absolutely everything he had in to the race and truly living in the moment and capturing it.

100% that was the Kevin Parks way of racing and life.

He will be deeply missed and never forgotten, I know that am I a better person for having him in my life and I think everyone who knew him would say the same thing.

We're gonna miss ya buddy.

Godspeed #10

Thanks Rob, Carla and I have been sick about it since we heard the news. I only met Kevin a few times, but got to ride with him twice through events held by the shop. He was a truly an amazing rider!

I saw a downed rider on one of the afternoon laps, I went by as aid personnel were just showing up. I could tell it was bad but hope the rider would be okay, I had no idea until later that it was Kevin. I came in and pitted and headed back out. I had a bad feeling after seeing the aid cars were still at the scene of the crash. When I got back in I went to ask Matt a simple question about my bike and could see he was distraught. Jeff informed me that Kevin was the rider who crashed and did not make it. I also a thoughts of not continuing the race but decided to press on. Every lap I passed that corner I would shake my head and say out loud "Rest in Peace Kevin Parks". The feeling that hit me every lap at that point on the course, is something I just don't know how to describe. I just felt sick every time I passed that spot and rode down pit row past the empty Webb Powersports pits. Thoughts and prayers to friends and family and especially his wife.

-Kevin and Carla Ling

There has been an memorial fund account set up at Sterling Savings Bank the account number is..59980198903 for some people and clubs that were asking. Its so great to see that the northwest off road racers are such a great bunch of people.

Thanks

On everyones behalf who knew kevin I also wanted to say thanks to the winning overall team at this years event " team old school" Rory sulliven, dennis sweeten and there other teammates for donating there winning purse money to help out kevin wife in these hard times, that was a class act very thoughtful.

Is there a paypal account that we can sent money to??

A PayPal account will be set up in the next day or so.

Hopefully by the end of the night there will be a site up at:

www.KevinParksMemorial.com

All of the information for the accounts will be available there.

I'll post again when the site is live.

My boys, 10 and 11, counted Kevin among their short list of sports heroes. Not only was he a world class athlete but he was friendly, open, approachable and modest. Kevin still is a shining example of the best of sportsman, a person who can take loss or defeat without complaint, or victory without gloating, and who treats his opponents with fairness, generosity, courtesy. He is, and will be, missed.

Since Jamie is likely to read this I wanted to share a very brief encounter I had with Kevin. In the '07 Desert 100 I had stopped to give aid to a downed rider. As those of us who worked together to help the rider gathered ourselves after the unsuccessful CPR, we were told by a course worker the number of the deceased rider that had been radioed to the pits. Unfortunately, there had been a terrible mistake and MY number had been radioed to the pits. My wife was in the pits. I never want to experience again the dread and horror I felt thinking my wife had been told I was dead. I rode back to the nearest checkpoint to get to a radio and found that they not yet found her.

Flooded with relief I decided to ride the course back to the pits. I was pretty emotional but began to ride very relaxed, and since relaxed and not in a hurry I rode as well I had ever ridden to that time (I started riding late, at 36). My new found speed notwithstanding, I heard a friendly voice behind me. It was Kevin, who I had met and ridden with before, but there was no way he would have recognized me as he overtook me. As he passed me, the lapper, he could not have known who I was yet he nicely, really almost cheerfully, told me which side he was going to pass me on.

That was a rough day for me. A guy died while racing, despite that myself and several other people were doing all we could to keep him alive. None of us knew him, but we all felt the loss. My outlook on life, riding and racing was deeply affected that day, but not in the negative manner some might think. Kevin’s few seconds to be kind to a lapper made a big impression on me.

Because of the efforts of the riders I gave aid with and the graciousness of Kevin as he passed me (to him I really was only one more obstacle to his victory) as well as Kevin’s friendly open demeanor after the race, I came away with the sure knowledge that I have the privileged of riding and competing with great people who know that the value of life is not contained merely within the act of breathing in and out, but rather more with how life is lived and the people life is shared with.

I am sorry to say that I did not know Kevin personally, but I looked up to him greatly. He will be remembered always and missed by all. My thoughts go out to all of his family and friends.

RIP Kevin #10

I know the entire Off-Road community is mourning today. Rest in Peace, Kevin. Our prayers are with the family. The Cle Elum and Ellensburg gang....everyone is in shock. Jamie, nothing anyone says can make this better for you, but you have a big family (the moto crowd) to lean on. People who ride and race Off-Road are a special breed. A family. God be with Kevin's teammates, friends, family, and wife.

silversurf said:

nelyon said:

I stand corrected, thanks

Kev was a stubborn hard headed guy, that had a total awesome sweet side with a great heart. He has been a total influence to my Son Alex and he will dearly miss his uncle Kevin. I know that his family, his wife, and all his friends that were like brothers to him will be lost without him. He was like superman, and he will forever stay that way. RIP #10.

I rode sweep out there this weekend. Was really hard after hearing of this even though I did not know him. It was really obvious in the pits afterwards and lots of people sending thoughts out. It is a dangerous sport but still shocking when one of ours does not make it through. When doing sweep after the news I kept getting flashes of what had happened and kept thinking he was still watching the race and taking laps with all of us. RIP Kevin.

nelyon said:

No one was around when I found Kevin. I think your friend was the 2nd person to assist the EMT and myself?

I was at the race. I had the privilege of delivering the prayer at the end of the Rider’s Meeting. I believe in God – His presence, His ability, His justice, His mercy, and His love for us.

It does seem a little selfish of us to intentional put ourselves in harm’s way by pushing natural laws to the limits and then saying, “Oh yeah, and God, keep me from injury.” Yet, at any race when I am using a microphone to make a public request, I am always sincere when I ask for exactly that.

We’d laugh at ourselves if we looked at it like this: You are the parent of a 2 year-old. You’re in the shallow end of the pool at the state university. You’re in a conversation with someone on the deck when the moment before you hear a splash at the deep end, you hear your child scream to you, “Catch me dad!”

We would laugh at the naïve trust of that infant to expect us to always be there for the little darling no matter how potentially destructive the child’s decision could be. It’s humorous afterward when all turns out well. Just like some of the crashes we’ve had.

I was the 6th rider on our team. By the time I started my race, Kevin had finished his. I only know Kevin through his impressive accomplishments. I am very proud of him for what he could do while ‘jumping into the deep end’.

I only heard of the incident when I got to the pits. The news hit me very hard. I still made my way down to the Webb PS pit hoping to reach out to the team and offer something, especially prayer, without unraveling into a slobbery pile. It was understandable (and merciful) that the pit was empty.

I want to echo what others have referenced about how short life is and where Kevin might be today. You only get just one time around.

I really do hope that Kevin landed in the arms of The Savior when he made his last big jump. I know where I’m going to land when I take my last big jump. You can know too. <><

Sincerely,
Kent Swick:ride:

:(

sad day...

I never met Kevin, but he still touched my life over the years.

Every time I saw him on a motorcycle I was in awe. Truly the definition of poetry in motion.

I was at the 24 hour also and felt uneasy every time I came to the section where his accident occurred. There was a part of me that thought he may be watching us all out there. So later on I told myself when I came through that section make it look good Kevin's watching.

Kevin took it to the next level and his spirit will live on with the off road community forever.

My sincere condolences to his Family and friends.
RIP Kevin Parks #10

The old biker saying "Ride to Live, Live to Ride" keeps echoing through my mind. We all take the risks we take in this sport cause we wouldn't be living, we would just be existing.

Roscoe

My heart goes out to the family and friends! Keep your heads up, as that is what he would of wanted. DJ