The lawn at the corner of Orchard Circle and North Temple Street in Lewiston is dug up where a driver lost control of his motorcycle and died at the scene. The motorcycle and driver landed several hundred feet away at the foundation of a nearby home. Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham

LEWISTON – A man was killed on North Temple Street early Thursday night when he lost control of his motorcycle, crashing through a row of bushes before coming to rest at the side of a house.

A motorcycle lies next to the foundation of a house on North Temple Street in Lewiston Thursday evening after the driver was killed when he left the road at the corner of North Temple and Orchard Circle several hundred feet away. Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham

Several witnesses said it appeared that the rider had been heading toward Sabattus Street when he lost control of the bike and crashed at about 6 p.m. near the corner of North Temple Street and Orchard Circle.

It is believed that the victim was a 27-year-old man riding a Honda Sportbike, although police were still investigating later Thursday night and the man’s identity was not available.

After it left the road, it appeared that the bike skidded across a lawn and through some bushes before both the motorcycle and the rider came to rest next to 28 North Temple St.

Several neighbors reported hearing the motorcycle “screaming down the road” at high speed before the rider lost control.

“It was so loud,” one woman said. “He must have been going really fast.”

Other neighbors — as well as several people who had been parked at Family Dollar near the crash site —shared similar observations. A few of them noted that a neighborhood block party for children was underway around the time of the crash.

Police were speaking with the woman who lives at 28 Temple St., although it was not clear if she had witnessed the wreck. Police were planning to conduct a crash reconstruction as part of their investigation.

A short section of North Temple Street, between Orchard Circle and Sabattus Street, remained closed while the investigation got underway.