LEAD STORY: Driver at HB speedway breaks back | Hawkes Bay News | Local News in Hawkes Bay

Wanganui stockcar driver Shonn Black was today in a stable condition in Hawke's Bay Hospital after breaking his back at Meeanee Speedway on Saturday.

Mr Black was hit by Hawke's Bay driver Bryce Cross while competing in the East Coast Championships.

The race was delayed while medical staff comforted Black and his car was towed off the track.

New Zealand Fire Service personnel then cut Mr Black out of his car. It is understood his seat, which he was strapped into, moved on impact.

The hit was one of several which tested the safety fences during the two-night championships. Regular hits are a feature of this contact class.

Mr Cross, 18, stressed the hit was not malicious.

``I heard Hawke's Bay fans weren't happy an out-of-town driver took the Hawke's Bay championship title the previous night and I was just doing my bit to make sure a visitor wouldn't win the East Coast championship,'' he told Hawke's Bay Today.

In the second heat, Mr Cross, one of the Bay's most promising drivers, had put Gisborne's Glen McIntosh, who won the Hawke's Bay championship the previous night, up the safety wall.

He believed Mr Black was of a similar age to himself and had at least two years' experience in the class.

``Shonn and his crew were parked up next to us in the pits,'' Mr Cross said. ``We had helped him out with welding earlier in the night. You never go out with the intention of injuring people ... crashes are part of the entertainment and his injury is one of those unfortunate accidents which happens in our sport.''

Since the accident, he had been in regular contact with members of Mr Black's family.

On Friday night, 15-year-old Hawke's Bay solobike rider Bradley Wilson-Dean was taken to Hawke's Bay Hospital with a fractured hand after a crash in his final race of the East Coast championship.

Meanwhile, the Kaikohe Speedway's Easter Stampede and Demolition Derby meeting at the weekend was marred by tragedy when Mount Maunganui ministock driver Samantha Mouat, 15, died in front of family and friends after striking a wall in her ministock.