Boy racer did 180k on bald tyres

A boy racer preparing for a meet purposely put bald tyres on his car to help him skid.

But he wore them down to the wire doing 180kmh as he fled police on a South Island highway later that night.

Andrew John Burrow, 23, was in a convoy of about 100 vehicles travelling across Marlborough when he drifted sideways along State Highway 63, about 17 kilometres west of Blenheim, for about a minute.

A passing police patrol indicated for Burrow to pull over, but he took off, speeding west of Blenheim with a passenger in the front seat about 1.20am, a police summary said. Burrow overtook two vehicles at about 180kmh with police in pursuit.

Police were then told to abandon the chase. Burrow then tried to hide from police. His tyres were so damaged from the pursuit the wire was showing. Burrow messaged his friends to bring him his legal tyres so he could get home, the summary said.

When spoken to by police, Burrow said he panicked when the police turned up and caved in to peer pressure to drive away.

The skid meet was in October, when the highway was the main route between Christchurch and Picton, as State Highway 1 was closed for repairs after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in 2016.

Burrow, of Blenheim, admitted dangerous driving, sustained loss of traction and failing to stop for police at the Blenheim District Court on Monday.

‘‘Your driving was dreadful,’’ Judge Richard Russell said. ‘‘Quite frankly, it’s a miracle no-one was injured or killed as a result of your driving.’’

He convicted Burrow and sentenced him to 175 hours’ community work, and disqualified him from driving for 18 months. Burrow was also fined $1000.