A judge has jailed two drivers for four years after their high-speed race resulted in the death of a 22-year-old cyclist.
Leeds abattoir worker Vitalijs Rozenbergs had been on his way to start a night-shift in the early hours when he was struck by a high-performance Audi RS3 sports car being driven at double the 40mph limit by Mohammed Khan.
The crash on Canal Road, Bradford, in September 2011 left the Latvian with catastrophic injuries and he died at the scene.
Yesterday 25-year-old Khan, of Amberley Street, Bradford, and Shajah Rehman, 31, of Rhylstone Gardens, Bradford, were jailed after admitting causing the victim’s death by dangerous driving.
Judge Peter Benson said Khan and Rehman, who was at the wheel of Mercedes AMG vehicle, had met up shortly before the collision and had decided to see whose car was the quickest.
Police inquiries revealed that earlier that night Khan had driven the 223 miles from Cardiff to Bradford at an average speed of almost 86mph.
Prosecutor Richard Clews said automatic number plate recognition equipment showed Khan had completed the normally four-hour journey in about two-and-a-half hours.
Khan arrived in the city at about 12.30am and was involved in the fatal crash with Mr Rozenbergs around 1.45am.
Judge Benson said it was clear that the two men had been testing their vehicles’ acceleration on the ring road for a short distance before the collision.
The court heard that although Mr Rozenbergs was not wearing reflective or light-coloured clothing it was a well-lit stretch of road and his bike did have a reflector fitted.
“As Mr Rozenbergs was cycling across you two were driving down racing each other and as a result you Mohammed Khan struck Mr Rozenbergs while he was on his bike throwing him into the air and causing catastrophic injuries from which he would have died almost immediately,” said judge Benson.
Barristers for both defendants described them as men of previous good character.
Khan was sentenced to 43 months in jail for causing death by dangerous driving with an additional five months for the no insurance offence.
Rehman, who entered his guilty plea at a later stage, was jailed for 48 months.
Both men were banned from driving for four years.