** Spectators killed at US car race **
At least eight people have been killed and 12 injured at an off-road motor race in California.
A vehicle crashed into a crowd of spectators at the California 200 desert night race near Lucerne Valley, 100 miles (160km) from Los Angeles.
Many of the injured were airlifted to hospital, officials told the AP news agency.
The California 200 is a race for powerful, all-terrain vehicles over a 50 mile (80km) off-road track.
The driver was not injured in the crash and fled the scene to avoid an angry crowd who began throwing rocks at him, reports said.
Tens of thousands of spectators attend the annual race and stand close to the path of the off-road vehicles, sometimes with little or no protection.
Crushed
A witness said the crash happened moments after the start of the race.
"When [the vehicle] came up, it like caught air and flew sideways, and I just saw people started scrambling at that point," the witness, who wasn't named, told AP.
"As soon as it hit, it rolled right on top and it just hit people and people flew, went in all kinds of directions. People were scattering, people were running and trying to help people."
Photographer, David Conklin said the car sped over a jump known on the course as "the rockpile" and went out of sight.
"I saw one woman with a major head wound lying in a pool of blood. Someone else was crushed beneath the car," he said.
Pictures of previous races show spectators standing close to the path of the vehicles.
The annual race goes through a dry river bed in the southern California desert at night, illuminated only by roof-mounted spotlights.
A vehicle crashed into a crowd of spectators at the California 200 desert night race near Lucerne Valley, 100 miles (160km) from Los Angeles.
Many of the injured were airlifted to hospital, officials told the AP news agency.
The California 200 is a race for powerful, all-terrain vehicles over a 50 mile (80km) off-road track.
The driver was not injured in the crash and fled the scene to avoid an angry crowd who began throwing rocks at him, reports said.
Tens of thousands of spectators attend the annual race and stand close to the path of the off-road vehicles, sometimes with little or no protection.
Crushed
A witness said the crash happened moments after the start of the race.
"When [the vehicle] came up, it like caught air and flew sideways, and I just saw people started scrambling at that point," the witness, who wasn't named, told AP.
"As soon as it hit, it rolled right on top and it just hit people and people flew, went in all kinds of directions. People were scattering, people were running and trying to help people."
Photographer, David Conklin said the car sped over a jump known on the course as "the rockpile" and went out of sight.
"I saw one woman with a major head wound lying in a pool of blood. Someone else was crushed beneath the car," he said.
Pictures of previous races show spectators standing close to the path of the vehicles.
The annual race goes through a dry river bed in the southern California desert at night, illuminated only by roof-mounted spotlights.
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