A sprintcar driver is in serious condition after a fiery crash at Ruapuna Speedway on Saturday evening.

A police spokesman said emergency services were called to an event on Hasketts Road, Templeton, at 7pm after a single-vehicle crash.

One person was taken to hospital in a serious condition, and police are making enquiries into the incident, the police spokesman said.

A witness told chrislynchmedia.com the driver was seriously injured after running over the wheel of another car.

“He hit the wall, and the car caught fire. He was trapped in the car while the crash crew struggled to use fire extinguishers. Everyone was yelling but unable to help the driver—it was distressing.”

Another witness, who inadvertently filmed the crash, and whose footage chrislynchmedia.com has viewed, said, “Honestly, it’s one of the worst things I’ve seen.

There were initial concerns about resources, with a water truck arriving after calls from the crowd, the witness said.

A loudspeaker announcement was made about 20 minutes later.

“His voice was breaking, and he was obviously in tears as he called the meeting off.”

Another spectator said “the fire crew was rapidly to the scene. Sure they were not as fast as we all wanted.

“Everyone was in shock. As a regular spectator among many other regulars we were all saying this incident was very unusual and not expected.

“It is hard to prepare for unexpected events and from them, we do tend to find any weaknesses.

Following the crash, the event was brought to an early end.

In an online statement, Ruapuna Speedway said, “The remainder of tonight’s race meeting at Ruapuna Speedway has been cancelled due to a medical event.

“Please bear with us as we await the full details surrounding the situation. We will update officially when we can. Thank you for your understanding.”

In a subsequent post, it said “on Saturday March 8th, a Sprintcar competitor was injured in a crash at Ruapuna Speedway. The remainder of the meeting was cancelled. We ask for your respect of all involved, and to think twice when sharing posts to social media.

Ruapunu Speedway told chrislynchmedia.com it was release another statement on Sunday morning.

Another person said “from someone that was first hand involved with it all and something that no one wants to see, the speedway family always pulls together and as a club member and part of the family a lot have witnessed something that will live with them for the rest of their lives.

I truly hope for a nice outcome from this. A nice guy . Thoughts are with the family.The speedway family is strong and will be their for all.”