HB driver injured in race crash

SHANE HURNDELL
Popular Hawke's Bay stockcar driver Peter Barry is in Wellington Hospital with head injuries received during the weekend's Palmerston North superstock teams championship.
The Central Hawke's Bay farmer who is in his second full season of racing was competing for the Kihi Kihi Kings when he was concussed after colliding with the wall in the race against the Hawke's Bay Hawkeyes on Friday night.
A steward realised Barry was unconscious, as his car continued to lap at a slow speed around the wall, and chased after the car to turn it off.
Barry was taken to Palmerston North Hospital initially and then flown to Wellington Hospital during the early hours of Saturday morning.
He was operated on while in an induced coma on Saturday. Barry's wife Andrea told Hawke's Bay Today this morning her husband was in a critical but stable condition.
``He was fit and healthy before the incident, he's a good fighter and we're confident he will battle it through,' she said.
She also praised the ``fantastic support' the family had received from the speedway fraternity.
The Hawke's Bay Hawkeyes didn't register a win during the weekend.