New Zealand motorcycle race nearly sets town ablaze [UPDATE]

In Greymouth, New Zealand, a legal street race is held annually for amateur motorcycle riders, and we assume it's not every year that a last-lap motorcycle crash threatens to set the town ablaze. But that's what happened last Sunday when a Ducati rider lost control and high-sided his bike.

Graham Boyd was following close behind on his modified Yamaha R6 and plowed into the Ducati, breaking the gas tank, spraying fuel everywhere and catching it all on video thanks to a helmet cam. But the ensuing fire reminds us why racing on dedicated tracks is much safer, and why you shouldn't equip a fiberglass gas tank on any motorcycle, as the Ducati rider admits to doing in YouTube comments. No one was seriously injured, and the track marshals were on the scene quickly.

Watch the video below to see the carnage.

UPDATE: The previous headline of this post incorrectly stated that it was an Australian motorcycle race.