5 INJURED IN SANTA CLARITA COLLISION.

Byline: Orith Goldberg Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - A teen-ager was in critical condition Tuesday after he lost control of his speeding car and it collided with a second vehicle, officials said.

Four occupants in the second car were injured in the collision - the third in a string of serious crashes this year involving teens driving late at night along the rural roads around the Santa Clarita Valley.

The crash occurred at 12:55 a.m. Tuesday as Bradley McBurney, 17, of Lake Elizabeth drove in excess of the 55 mph speed limit northbound along San Francisquito Canyon Road near Copper Hill Drive, the California Highway Patrol reported.

For an unknown reason, McBurney lost control of the 1993 green Toyota Camry he drove and it slid at a right angle, hitting a white 1995 Honda traveling south along San Francisquito Canyon Road with four occupants, Perez said.

The passenger side of the Camry went into the path of the Honda, driven by 20-year-old Santa Clarita resident Max Zabicki.

Zabicki and two of his passengers - Reginald Brown of Illinois and Eugene Lee of Granada Hills, both 19 - were taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital with minor injuries.

They were later treated and released, said a nursing supervisor. The fourth occupant in the Honda, 19-year-old Sean Woodson of Granada Hills, was taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills in serious condition.