Hayden Wright remembered for ‘heart of gold’ after death in Albany motorbike crash

A grieving mother has told of the final conversation she had with her son before he walked out the door, never to return home alive.

Hayden Wright, 29, was tragically killed in an off-road motorbike crash in Albany, in WA’s Great Southern region, just after midnight on October 5.

Wright had plans to watch a movie with his family earlier that evening but said he was ducking out for a short period.

“I caught him as he was leaving and he said ‘I’ll be 15, 20 minutes. I’ll be back, I love you’,” his mum Katrina Bee told 7NEWS.com.au.

“I said to him, ‘I’ll hold you to that, be safe’. That’s what we always said to each other.”

Bee said there was some comfort in knowing those warm words were the last they shared, adding that she could have easily missed him as he headed out.

But almost two weeks since his death, Wright’s family remains in “disbelief” that he is gone.

“You still expect him to walk around the corner, to come back,” his mother said.

‘He left behind that little footprint’

Wright was on one of two off-road motorbikes riding along Albany Hwy when he left the road and struck a power pole near the intersection of Mawson St in Centennial Park.

He suffered critical injuries and was rushed to hospital, where he tragically died. Loved ones said he was wearing a helmet.

Wright, a proud father to a four-month-old son, is being remembered as family-orientated, full of life and love, and someone with a passion for fishing, camping, four-wheel-driving, motorbikes and riding.

He also had a knack for fixing things.

“He had a heart of gold, he didn’t waste a second of the day and he would do anything to help anyone — the caring side of him was out of this world,” Bee told 7NEWS.com.au.

“He was very likeable and had a lot of people who loved him.”

She said the former sheep shearer’s young son looks just like his dad.

“We’re blessed to have that, he’s left behind that little footprint,” Bee said.

Tributes have poured in on social media, and an online fundraiser has been launched to pay for Wright’s funeral and memorial costs, and support his young child.

“He was the kind of person who would give you the shirt off his back, make you laugh when you needed it most, and always show up for the people he loved,” his cousin Kascha Randall said.

“At just 29, Hayden had already packed so much adventure into his life.

“He lived big, loved deeply, and left a mark on everyone who knew him. His loss has left a hole in our hearts that will never be filled.”

Bee said the family is also weighing up how to use any extra money to support initiatives that help the local homeless community, a cause close to Wright’s heart.

He will be farewelled at a funeral service in Albany on October 24.

The police investigation into his death is ongoing.