Junior drag driver, 8, killed in Australia race crash

Sydney, Nov 13 (AFP) An eight-year-old girl has diedafter crashing her junior dragster during her first officialtest run in the West Australia capi...

Sydney, Nov 13 (AFP) An eight-year-old girl has diedafter crashing her junior dragster during her first officialtest run in the West Australia capital of Perth, police saidtoday.

Anita Board was trying to qualify for a junior racinglicense in her purple dragster "Pony Power" on Saturday whenshe hit a cement barrier at the end of the run, local mediareported.

She had just turned eight on Thursday, reaching theminimum age to get the license and race her 210cc dragster.

Police said she was taken to hospital in criticalcondition and died yesterday.

"Tragically, the eight-year-old girl involved in a crashat the Kwinana Motorplex... has died as a result of theinjuries she sustained," the police statement said.

Police said they were investigating the cause of theaccident.

Anita came from a drag-racing family and their Facebookpage has several pictures of her in racing gear alongsidedifferent dragsters.

Her father, Ian, posted a message overnight on the pagesaying "my heart (is) in a million pieces".

The Australian National Drag Racing Association said itwas assisting police investigations into the accident, whilethe acting premier of West Australia state raised thepossibility of imposing new restrictions on junior racing.

"I think we need to look at the full range of safetymeasures that are in place," Roger Cook was quoted as sayingby public broadcaster ABC.

Mike Sprlyan of Junior Dragster Australia told localmedia in Perth that junior races involved children from ageeight to 17, with beginners like Anita reaching top speeds ofup to 50 kph. (AFP)KIS.

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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