Three crashes before ROT Rally begins

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Three motorcycle crashes, including one that killed a cyclist, had police busy the night before the Republic of Texas Biker Rally kicked off in Austin.

A string of crashes started Thursday evening when a 54-year-old biker in town for the rally lost control on Manchaca Road just south of Slaughter Lane. Paramedics found him unconscious at the scene and rushed him to University Medical Center Brackenridge in critical condition. Police said he was not wearing a helmet.

Two more motorcycle crashes tied up emergency crews and caused road closures overnight.

A motorcycle rider died in Hays County between Buda and Kyle on Farm to Market Road 1626, north of 2770.

Hays County deputies said both the pickup and motorcyclist Travis Michael Sultemeier, a 21-year-old from Mountain City, were heading north on FM 1626. Authorities said Sultemeier hit the pickup -- driven by Darryl Thomas Jennings of Kyle -- from behind.

Sultemeier was found in a ditch down the road from the crash, and he died at the scene at 12:30 a.m. Friday. He was not wearing a helmet.

Jennings went to University Medical Center Brackenridge with minor injuries.

Shortly after that crash, police said two people on a motorcycle rear-ended a car on Ben White Boulevard near Montopolis Drive. Both riders went to the hospital with serious injuries, and no one in the car was hurt.