Simon Cesar was a daredevil skateboarder, a gifted illustrator and a Top Chef in the making.

Friends say he loved working on Honda automobiles and was enrolled in Hilo Community College's electrical program, perhaps taking the first steps toward the career in auto mechanics so many predicted for him.

Cesar was never supposed to be another statistic, but when the 19-year-old Hilo High graduate died Friday after crashing a motorcycle into a utility pole in Kea'au, he became the Big Island's fifth traffic fatality of the year.

Police say Cesar was operating a 2006 Suzuki motorcycle, heading west on Kipimana Drive, about half a mile from Highway 11, when he lost control, crossed the center line and collided with the pole.

The accident occurred around 5:50 p.m.

Cesar was transported to Hilo Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead about three hours later.

Witnesses told police they saw the motorcycle going up and down the street with the operator doing wheel stands.

Police said speed was "definitely a factor" in the crash. Traffic Enforcement Unit officers have initiated a coroner's inquest case and have ordered an autopsy.

His grandmother remembers Cesar as a kind, sensitive young man who one Father's Day long ago tied a note to a bunch of balloons and set them free, hoping they would make it to his biological father, who died of leukemia when Cesar was 5.

"He had a bright future," said Cesar's grandmother, Marcia Wilson of New Jersey. "He was a wonderful boy who was always kind to his family."

Family friend Liula Mahi, 23, of Hilo, said the motorcycle did not belong to Cesar, and that Cesar, who was not an experienced rider, was simply "trying it out."

Mahi said Cesar's intelligence and spirit made him well liked wherever he went.

"He was a go-getter," she said. "He wasn't scared of anything. He was willing to try anything and he could do the meanest skateboard tricks.

"But what he really loved was working on cars," she said. "I always told him that he should open up his own garage."

Wilson said her grandson also had a soft spot for animals, particularly the dachshunds his family bred.

"He was very loving," Wilson said. "His mother said that he was her gift from God, and I know she treasured every moment she had with him."

Cesar is survived by his mother, Diana Damon; stepfather Dwight Damon; and half-sisters Julia and Esme Damon and Cecelia Cesar.