The road outside Wainuoru School is heavily marked by burnouts. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
200 boy racers leave big mess outside rural school
HAYLEY GASTMEIER
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A huge gathering of boy racers turned a sleepy rural Masterton community into their version of ‘Burnout Central’ over the weekend, creating so much smoke that one resident thought that the town’s school was on fire.
The group, estimated to number about 200, left behind lines of rubber marks that covered road markings, debris from tyres destroyed in burnouts, and empty bottles of alcohol outside a primary school and community hall.
A witness said about “200 vehicles” had come to Wainuioru, 22km east of Masterton, on Saturday night for what he suspected was a planned event.
The man, who does not want to be named, said a huge pall of smoke covered the area around the school.
“There was lots of smoke, the smell of rubber in the air – we actually thought the school was on fire because there was so much smoke.
He and his family watched the action from afar, saying “even from a fair distance away, you could hear the tyres popping”.
“My wife was woken around about 11.15pm and she thought it was thunder because it was so loud.
“There was lots of shouting, lots of swearing, revving engines, cheering.
“And then we counted about 200 vehicles leave at about midnight . . . we counted the headlights as they left.
“Some went back towards town along Stronvar Rd, the vast majority left via Westmere Rd towards Gladstone.”
At least three complete tyres, rubber and metal debris of blown tyres, an oil spill, and empty cigarette packets littered the scene on Sunday morning. There was also more than two dozen empty alcohol cans and bottles.
The man said this “mindless” behaviour was sad for the community, which would be left to clean up the mess.
“It’s pretty unforgivable. It’s right by the school, there’s rubbish inside the school grounds.
“The community are going to be left to pick up the rubbish and ratepayers are going to have to pick up the tab.”
He had lived in the area for about four years and had never witnessed anything like it.
“This kind of thing doesn’t happen, certainly not on this scale . . . this is a quiet, sleepy area.”
Several residents on Masterton Stronvar Rd told the Times-Age they heard “about 100” cars flying past their properties overnight Saturday.
A police media spokesperson confirmed that multiple reports of ‘a boy racer event’ were received and additional resources were deployed.
It could not be confirmed on Sunday what action was taken by police.
On the same road on Sunday, a vehicle crashed into a bank.
Emergency services were called to the scene after 4.30pm, with Wellington Free Ambulance paramedics treating one person at the scene and transferring them to Wairarapa Hospital with moderate injuries.
