A high-speed race between two uniformed St John Ambulance youth members ended in a fiery crash and almost claimed a passing motorist and his six-year-old son yesterday.
A witness said the two cars were racing at speeds in excess of 140km/h along the boy-racer troublespot McLeans Island Road in north-west Christchurch.
The driver of the rear car, a white Subaru, lost control on the bend outside the Vintage Machinery Park.
The car lurched across the centre line then slid sideways for about 40m, off the road, through a fence and slammed into trees outside the Canterbury Kennel Club.
The driver escaped as the car burst into flames which incinerated the wreck and the tree it was wrapped around.
Witnesses said the man who escaped the burning car was wearing the white shirt of a St John ambulance officer.
A motorist, who declined to be named, said he and his six-year-old son were returning from a day;s mountainbiking when he had to take evasive action to avoid a horrific smash.
They were travelling in the opposite direction when the out-of-control car caused them to veer off the road to avoid a head-on collision.
The car containing the man and his son went into a skid and narrowly missed a power pole.
He estimated the racing cars were travelling at a speed of at least 140km/h.
Constable Paul Beaver, of the Christchurch Central Crash Unit, said one of the drivers had admitted to a witness they were travelling at that speed.
There had been reports the drivers had been dangerously overtaking other cars before the crash, Beaver said.
It;s crazy. Especially with the road being very busy today.
Looking at the burnt and twisted wreck on the side of the road, Beaver said the man was lucky to walk away.
The front car, a modified, matt black Ford Laser, turned around and came back to the crash site.
Both drivers were taken to hospital in a St John ambulance.
St John spokeswoman Amy McDermott said the two were returning from a St John event in Waddington, central Canterbury, that required members to wear uniforms.
The two were youth members of the order and were not ambulance officers, she said.
A full investigation had been launched.
Road policing manager Inspector Derek Erasmus said the driver of the crashed car had received moderate injuries.
The other car had been seized under the Land Transport Act;s boy racer provisions, he said.
Under the law, cars could be seized on three grounds: sustained loss of traction (burnouts), undue exhibition of speed, or illegal street racing. Erasmus declined to specify which provision applied in this case.
The drivers were co-operating with police and no charges had been laid yet, he said.
Two fire appliances extinguished the blaze.
Canterbury Kennel Club custodian Bruce Chambers said he came out to investigate after hearing the familiar sound of boy racers screaming down the road. Boy racers have been rare on McLeans Island Road since Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker banned them from it in December.
Chambers said he could hear the pair coming down the road from well inside the park.
A woman who lived in a van just behind the crash site said she heard the familiar sound of boy racers and then the crash.
She had to evacuate her home when the trees the car had crashed into went up in flames only metres from her van.
Erasmus said yesterday;s traffic returning from Easter weekend holidays was busy but very orderly in both North and South Canterbury.
The McLeans Island crash was one of only four reported since 1pm yesterday. That was very light, he said.
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