Creswick man dies after US crash

By Marcus Power
Updated November 2 2012 - 2:45pm, first published September 23 2010 - 1:26pm
GREATLY MISSED: Clint Turley, who died after an accident in the United States this week, with girlfriend Abby Loveday.
GREATLY MISSED: Clint Turley, who died after an accident in the United States this week, with girlfriend Abby Loveday.

A HAPPY, gentle bloke and a natural competitor with a big heart.Clint Turley, from Wattle Flat near Creswick, was remembered in these terms by family and friends yesterday following his death after a farm accident in the United States this week. Mr Turley, 26, died on Monday night US time from injuries sustained in an all-terrain vehicle crash on a private property west of Fort Morgan, Colorado.Yesterday, those closest to him were still coming to terms with the loss of the man they new as "Turls" or "Boodsy". A fitter and turner by trade, for the last six years he had travelled to the same area in the US to work on grain cleaners, Mr Turley's father Rob Turley said yesterday."He liked machinery, he was always tinkering with things," Rob Turley said.Over those years he worked with the same farmers, with whom he developed a good rapport.Family members described him as relaxed with a natural charm that drew people to him. "The smile on his face always got people in," sister Natalie O'Brien recalled.Heading to the northern hemisphere mid-year also meant six years of almost constant summer.That allowed him to wear his favoured uniform of Ruggers shorts, T-shirt and caterpillar boots year round.But his heart was back at home with partner Abby Loveday and the Cambrian Hill block they bought together two years ago.It was there that he hoped to one day build a house and had been saving towards that goal."He loved pottering out there, cleaning up, putting up fences," Ms O'Brien said.As a boy, Mr Turley's other great passion was motorbikes, which he raced competitively across Australia.He was a Victorian junior motocross champion, and one year came third in the Australian titles.Once on the track, the laid-back attitude to the rest of his life was put to one side."He was a champion, no question. He was never beaten until the checkered flag dropped," Rob Turley said."A few of the older riders would try to test him out,"."But they didn't realise when he put his helmet on he would give them what for." Mr Turley is survived by partner Abby, parents Rob and Rose, brother Matt, and sisters Natalie, and Leesa, brother-in-law Paul, sister-in-law Deanna, nephews Alex and Mitch and niece Ruby.

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