An apparent drag race late Thursday resulted in a crash that tore a 2002 blue Ford Mustang in half, killing a suburban couple in their early 20s on Transit Road in Lancaster.

Lancaster police said Mark Harhigh, 24, of Lancaster, lost control of the car at about 10:35 p. m.

The vehicle crossed four lanes on Transit, south of William, and slammed into a utility pole. The impact split the car in two.

Witnesses told police they had seen Harhigh''s car racing another vehicle - possibly a black Dodge Neon - just before the crash, which has prompted state legislation to increase penalties for drag racing.

Harhigh, a 2002 graduate of Depew High School, was believed to be driving Melanie Page, 21, his girlfriend of several years, to her Cheektowaga home at the time of the crash, police investigators said.

The two were thrown from the vehicle.

Page, who graduated from West Seneca East in 2004 and was working as a dental assistant, according to her MySpace page, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Harhigh was taken by Mercy Flight to Erie County Medical Center, where he died at about 7 a. m. Friday.

Police said they might never know exactly how fast the southbound vehicle was traveling.

"Because of the condition of the vehicle and the way it split in half, I''m not sure we''re going to be able to determine the speed," said Lt. Ronald Rozler, who heads the Lancaster police Accident Investigation Unit.

Two witnesses told police that they saw the car stopped in the driving lane at a red light at Transit and William, alongside the other car in the passing lane.

Both vehicles left the light at a high rate of speed, the witnesses told police.

The crash occurred roughly a quarter of a mile south of William.

Lancaster police said Friday they had interviewed "someone they think drove the other car."

No further details were disclosed.

Reached Friday evening at his home, Harhigh''s father, Andrew, said the family was waiting to learn more from police about the crash.

Andrew Harhigh called his son "a caring person" and acknowledged the family was struggling with the tragedy.

He said a joint wake for the victims was being arranged in the Paul A. Kloc Blossom Chapels Funeral Home on Clinton Street in West Seneca.

State Sen. Dale M. Volker, RDepew, introduced legislation Friday that would increase the penalties for street racing to a felony from a misdemeanor offense for repeat offenders.

Volker was responding not only to the Lancaster crash, but also to another one Thursday that killed a 5-year-old Queens boy when his aunt''s vehicle was struck during a suspected drag race on 109th Avenue in Queens.

"These tragic deaths are only the latest illustration that street racing puts peoples'' lives in danger," Volker said. "Innocent people are being killed at the hands of thrill-seeking drivers."

Investigators have found no indication of alcohol or drugs in the Lancaster crash.

Harhigh apparently was wearing a seat belt. They don''t know whether Page was wearing hers.

Accident investigators asked anyone with any information about the crash to call 683-2800.