KEY POINTS:
Spectators watched in horror as a driver was engulfed in a fireball after his car rolled during a race at the Whangarei Speedway on Saturday.
The overturned car came to rest on the driver's side and driver Erik Molving, 54, of Stanmore Bay on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, was trapped for more than a minute among blazing fuel until speedway staff put out the fire, turned the car upright and extracted him.
Much of Mr Molving's fire-resistant overalls had been burned away, his head was blackened and most of his body had "full thickness" burns. He was taken by ambulance to Whangarei Hospital, from where the Northland Electricity rescue helicopter airlifted him to Middlemore Hospital in Auckland.
A hospital intensive care unit staff member yesterday described his condition as "seriously ill". A family spokesperson said he was "critical".
The fire took place after Mr Molving's car came in contact with a car driven by Neil Roycroft, of Whangarei, during a B grade race for modified saloon cars in the Northland Speedway Championships about 1.20pm on Saturday.
Speedway drivers usually walk away from such encounters, but it is understood the cap on Mr Molving's fuel tank had fallen off and when the car rolled he was covered in petrol which ignited.
Mr Molving surprised many by surviving the inferno. Police said he was still conscious when taken to hospital.
Mr Roycroft said he had found a clip-on fuel cap on the track and turned it over to the race referee, Jim Rawhiti, of Dargaville. The rules for B grade cars, which can have five-litre engines, specify fuel caps must be of the screw-on variety.
Mr Rawhiti said scrutiny before the race should have included an inspection of Mr Molving's fuel cap.
The clip-on fuel cap is now in the possession of the Whangarei police serious crash unit, which has impounded the burned car and is investigating the incident, which is also being examined by Labour Department health and safety officials.
There were an estimated 200 people at the speedway and many in the crowd were screaming for emergency services to hurry up when Mr Molving was trapped in the burning car.
Spectator Shane McDonald said the firefighting was shambolic and there seemed to be a delay in calling an ambulance. But Whangarei Saloon and Stock Car Club president Peter Blacklock said the club paid to have St John Ambulance staff at race meetings and the Saturday fire crash team consisted of four experienced men from the Pukekohe motor racing circuit.
"Safety from the drivers' point of view was right up there among the best we can do," he said.
"In an emergency it may seem to people in the crowd that things are happening slowly, but I think only about five seconds elapsed between when the fire started and the first of our fire crash team was on the scene with an extinguisher."
Mr Blacklock declined to comment on the fire because the race was under the control of the Northland Speedway Board of Control, a committee of speedway officials from Whangarei, Dargaville, Kaikohe and Taipa.
A Whangarei representative on the board, Terry Tremain, declined to comment before the police investigation had been completed.
Neither he nor Mr Rawhiti would comment on the fuel-cap issues.
The race meeting was called off after the fire.
* Police seek video coverage of the speedway fire. Anyone who caught the incident on camera should contact the Whangarei police on 09 430 4500.
- NORTHERN ADVOCATE
