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Biker dies in Tarpon collision with SUV

The motorcyclist was on his way to Tampa when he and a teen crashed into each other.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published August 1, 2006

TARPON SPRINGS - A 33-year-old Tampa man died Sunday night after his motorcycle crashed into a sport utility vehicle that turned into his path, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Sean G. Smith was traveling east on Keystone Road at 7:11 p.m., when a northbound Honda SUV driven by Kelly Gordon, 16, of Tarpon Springs pulled in front of him while turning from Dogwood Trace, Trooper Larry Coggins said.

Smith, who was wearing a helmet, was thrown from his Yamaha R6. He was later flown to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, where he was pronounced dead at 8:07 p.m.

No one had been charged Monday. Troopers were still investigating the crash, trying to determine the vehicles' speeds and road visibility at the time, Coggins said. Witnesses told troopers that Smith had been speeding.

A man who answered the phone at Gordon's home declined to comment about the incident. Gordon and her three passengers were not injured.

Greg Gossett, 33, a longtime friend of Smith, said Smith had been visiting other friends in Pinellas County and was heading back to Tampa to play cards at the time of the crash.

"He was my brother, and there's no other word for it," Gossett said. "If you weren't telling him a joke, he was telling you one."

Smith had two daughters, Katelyn, 15, and Kinlee, 5, and owned a car stereo business, Gossett said. He kept busy with hobbies, studying self-defense, playing the guitar, blowing glass, watching movies and cheering for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

To Gossett, Smith was the friend he called for help, like the time he was stuck at the Orlando airport at 4 a.m. and needed a ride home to Tampa.

"He understood how to make me laugh, if I needed that," he said.

[Last modified July 31, 2006, 21:29:40]