Inquiry into girl's track death

Ribbons fly from mini-stock cars at Kaikohe Speedway yesterday in tribute to driver Samantha Mouat. Photo / Northern Advocate

A funeral service for a teenage speedway driver killed at a meet in Northland will take place at her home track in Mt Maunganui.

Samantha Mouat, 15, died in front of her family and friends after striking a wall in her mini-stock car at the Easter Stampede and Demolition Derby at Kaikohe Speedway.

The competition continued yesterday after a memorial for the teenager, which included placing flowers on Cemetery Bend, the spot where she was killed.

A local kaumatua blessed the track, and all drivers completed a remembrance lap before yesterday's racing began.

The speedway's owners said the circular dirt racetrack and the teenager's car were in good condition, and the fatal accident was the result of a driver error.

Secretary Debbie Beadle said racing on the track was not as dangerous as driving on the open road.

Kaikohe Speedway was known as a "black track" because it was not registered with Speedway New Zealand, which licensed 23 tracks around the country.

But its operator, Circle Track Racing Association, said this was an unfair title.

Spokesman Dave Wakefield said, "It is not a black track. It is run to a specific rulebook and has a governing body."

The association's president would be visiting the speedway this week to conduct an inquiry into the state of the racetrack, the condition of the teenager's car, the cause of the crash and the number of cars in the derby.

A similar inquiry in 2007 resulted in changes to the shape of the racetrack and the structure of surrounding walls.

That investigation followed stock-car driver George Waa's crash into a concrete wall, which left the 42-year-old with severe chest injuries.

A police serious crash unit and the Department of Labour were investigating Samantha's fatal crash.

Mr Wakefield said mini-stock cars were probably stronger than custom-built saloon cars, but were not invincible.

"They are not designed to take the hits that stock cars do, but the tapping they receive doesn't do them much harm. It's non-contact class so accidents like this are rare."

Willie Vermuelen, who taught youths to race at Baypark Speedway, said there were very high safety standards in the competition.

"It seems like it was a freak accident."

Willie Kay, a promoter for Baypark Speedway, said the death was the "worst kind of tragedy".

"She was an astute, very likeable girl. A real bright spark. We are still trying to get our heads around the situation at the moment. It is totally devastating."

Samantha had been racing her number 66 red mini-stock car at the Mount for roughly a year. The youngest allowable age for mini-stock drivers was 12.

Her funeral is expected to be held at the Baypark Speedway on Thursday.