HEARTFELT tributes have been paid to a Badsey teenager with a passion for motorbikes, who died in an accident on his Kawasaki bike at the weekend.
Jack Marshall, aged 19, of Willersey Road, died in Cheltenham General Hospital after an accident on the A435 near Cheltenham Racecourse roundabout on Sunday afternoon.
His parents, Charlie and Angela, told the Journal their son had a passion for bikes which stemmed from childhood, when he used to race old mopeds around the fields.
After primary education at Badsey First School he went on to Bredon Hill Middle School, where he also became a keen hockey player.
He started part-time work with Phil Basford, a garden machinery supplier in Blackminster, and took up motorcycle trailing.
Jack then became a member of Evesham Motorcycle Club and was junior champion in 1999.
During his time studying for A-levels at Prince Henry's High School, he began buying and selling bikes and machinery and then landed a work experience placement with Castrol Honda World Superbike Team at Louth in Lincolnshire, where he received glowing reports.
When he finished his A-levels last summer, he began working Response Medical, a cardiac sales company in Chipping Campden.
The family said Jack, who has a younger brother, George, was well-known for his sunny disposition and caring manner.
Mr Marshall said: "He was sensitive by nature and went out of his way to help others when they were in crisis."
Mrs Marshall added: "What he packed into his 19 years, others would not do in 40 years."
Jack's uncle, Ian Jones, said: "Jack was a lad who grabbed life by the throat and lived it at 150 per cent. I think this boy, with his exuberance and good humour, has left a gaping hole which has shocked us all."
Jack, who'd had his 750cc Kawasaki motorbike since last summer, died after an accident involving three other cars on the Cheltenham to Bishop's Cleeve road at 1pm.
Police closed the road for four hours. An inquest was opened and adjourned at Tewkesbury magistrates court yesterday.
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