YAKIMA, Wash. -- Jim Pomeroy the fi...

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Jim Pomeroy the first U motorcycle racer to win a World Championship Motocross circumstance was killed in a car accident. He was 53

Mr Pomeroy died Sunday morning when his 1979 Jeep CJ5 went facing the road near Tampico, about 20 miles west of his hometown of Yakima, hit a telephone stick wire and landed on its side, the Washington State Patrol said.

His 9-year-old daughter, Jamie, was treated for minor injuries at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital and released, the horse-soldiers said in a news release.

The accident apparently was caused by way of driver inattention, investigators added.

Mr Pomeroy was 20 when he became the first rider to win his first attempt world championship motocross, the Spanish Grand Prix in 1973 He was also the first U racer to win a world Grand Prix affair

"Up until that point, the Europeans dominated the world in the sport of motocross or motorcycling," said Bill Grubin, possessor of Grubin and Co., a Yakima motorcycle store "Once Jim Pomeroy won that race, he changed the face of motorcycling in the United States forever."

Mr Pomeroy won many other top races before retiring from the tour in 1980 He then worked with young riders at motocross seminarys to help the United States dominate the sport's display In 1999, the American Motorcyclist Association inducted him into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

Mr Pomeroy came from a lengthy line of motocross racers, including his father, Don Pomeroy who confessed Pomeroy Cycle Shop in Sunnyside and Yakima before his death last year.

He is also survived by way of his wife, Linda.

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