KEY POINTS:
A youth died and another was seriously injured when their car hit a tree during a car club event.
The crash, just south of Auckland, was the fourth vehicle fatality in the country at the weekend.
A St John ambulance spokesman said the fatality happened about 3.30pm yesterday
on a track in the Waiuku Forest.
The car was part of a trail-bike event organised by Waiuku Dirt Track Club. The 18-year-old killed was a member of the club. The other occupant, also 18, was flown in the Northland Electricity rescue helicopter to Middlemore Hospital, where he remained last night in a serious condition.
A St John ambulance was at the scene at the time of the crash. The Pukekohe serious crash unit and Waiuku Volunteer Fire Brigade attended.
Last night, club vice-president Graham Hodgson and other members contacted by the Herald would not comment on the crash. "It's been a pretty hard day for all of us," Mr Hodgson said.
Last year spectators were injured, three seriously, when hit by a car competing in the Targa Rally at Waiuku.
Three other people were killed in weekend crashes. Cameron Michael Crosby, 19, of Tauranga died after the van he was driving and a four-wheel-drive car collided near Te Puke on Saturday night.
The crash happened about 8.30pm at the intersection of Manoeka Rd and State Highway 29.
Senior Sergeant Rob Glencross of Tauranga said it appeared Mr Crosby pulled out from Manoeka Rd and collided with the other vehicle.
A second 19-year-old Tauranga man, a passenger in the van, was in critical condition in Tauranga Hospital yesterday. A third person in the van and the driver of the 4WD suffered minor injuries.
A Canterbury woman was killed yesterday morning after the 4WD she was a passenger in lost control and crashed into a power pole at Leeston, 43km southwest of Christchurch. Another passenger suffered moderate injuries when the vehicle, carrying five people, left the road at 6.30am.
One person died in a head-on collision between a car and a 4WD in West Auckland.
Inspector Ian Brooker said the crash happened about 1am yesterday. The vehicles collided on Scenic Drive in Titirangi.
The front-seat passenger of the car died at the scene and the driver was seriously injured. The occupants of the four-wheel-drive escaped unscathed.
Mr Brooker said it appeared one of the vehicles crossed the centre line.
-Additional reporting by NZPA
