Man hurt at raceway

A speedway driver was in Wellington Hospital with serious injuries last night after smashing into a wall during a race.

Firefighters cut the 34-year-old man from the vehicle after the crash just before 9pm at Te Marua speedway in Upper Hutt.

Wellington Free Ambulance paramedics treated the injured driver at the scene before the Westpac Rescue Helicopter was called to transfer him to Wellington hospital.

Rescue helicopter crewman Dave Greenberg said he understood the car slammed into a wall on a turn at the south end of the track.

Wellington Speedway was holding a demolition derby as well as saloon and streetstock racing last night.

The crash follows several serious incidents at speedway tracks in recent years.

A Nelson man suffered head injuries in a four-car pile up at the Tahuna Beach Holiday Park Speedway in March, while a Hawke's Bay farmer was seriously hurt in a crash at Palmerston North's International Speedway in February.

A sprint car driver died after crashing at Tauranga's Baypark in January last year.