A 56-year-old motorcyclist died in a Saturday night crash outside of Cody.

The Wyoming Highway Patrol identified the deceased as Joe Lees of Illinois.

According to a preliminary summary from the patrol, Lees was traveling southeast into Cody on Wyo. Highway 120N and was just north of Road 2AB when the crash occurred.

The highway curves to the right and the speed limit drops from 70 to 35 mph in that area, but the patrol says the motorcycle didn’t appear to slow down and didn’t make the turn. The bike continued straight and hit the concrete curb on the opposite side of the road, the patrol says, causing the vehicle to fall sideways, hit a metal delineator post and go down a steep embankment.

Lees — who was not wearing a helmet — came off the rented machine in the crash, according to the report; speed was listed as a possible contributing factor.

The death was the seventh fatal crash in Park County this year, all since mid-June, according to patrol statistics. That’s up from four traffic fatalities in Park County in all of 2023 and is approaching the eight lives lost in 2022.

Saturday’s incident also followed a fatal motorcycle crash that occurred just north of Park County, outside of Belfry, Montana, on Sept. 24. Authorities allege that crash, which claimed the life of 70-year-old Martin Hans Peter of Switzerland, was intentionally caused by former Cody resident Michael Gambale.

—By CJ Baker