MARTINEZ (BCN) -- A motorcyclist who was killed in a crash on state Highway 4 near  Concord Monday night has been identified as 18-year-old Martinez resident  Joseph Scalise, a Contra Costa County deputy coroner said today.

      The crash happened at about 11:15 p.m. on westbound Highway 4 just  east of the junction with Interstate Highway 680 between Martinez and  Concord, CHP Officer Mike Wright said.

      Witnesses told investigators that Scalise had been traveling in  the left lane at an extremely high rate of speed when he entered a gradual  curve in the road and lost control of his motorcycle, a 1981 Yamaha, Wright  said.

      The motorcycle veered across all lanes of traffic and onto the  dirt median, where Scalise was ejected from the bike.

      The motorcycle, meanwhile, continued sliding several hundred feet  down the roadway and then burst into flames, Wright said.

      Scalise was pronounced dead at the scene.

      The crash was initially reported as a multi-vehicle crash, but  Wright said today it appears that several witnesses stopped when they saw  what happened but were not actually involved in the crash.
     

(Copyright 2009, Bay City News, All rights reserved.)