SALEM — A Salem teen admitted yesterday to causing a fiery head-on collision while drag racing on Fort Avenue one evening last March, and will spend nine months in jail, a judge decided yesterday.

Timothy Pereira, 19, of 64 Butler St., actually deserved even more time in jail, Judge Richard Mori said, for the crash that left four people injured, including Pereira's own cousin and the driver of a minivan on the evening of March 12.

Pereira, driving his 2005 Mustang, was drag racing a Honda Civic when he lost control of his car at 80 miles an hour. The Mustang went across the road, hitting a Honda minivan head on, and then burst into flames.

Pereira's cousin Brandon Pereira, 17, was thrown from the Mustang and received serious injuries that led doctors to put him into an induced coma for weeks. The driver of the minivan, Christine Speliotis, and her passenger, Stanley Swaczyk, both suffered broken bones and required surgery.

Pereira showed "a callous disregard" for other people, Mori said. "At 7:30 p.m., out by the Willows, which is an area frequented by families and children even at that time of the year, this guy's doing 80 miles per hour. My inclination is to go higher than the Commonwealth's recommendation."

That recommendation, presented by prosecutor Caleb Weiner, and eventually accepted by the judge, calls for Pereira to serve nine months of an 18-month sentence, with the balance suspended for three years, for the driving to endanger charge.

Mori granted Pereira a one-week stay of the sentence, which he will start serving next Friday.

The racing charge was continued without a finding for three years, something that potentially exposes Pereira to even more jail time if he violates his probation.

Pereira's license will remain suspended for at least another 90 days, and he'll be required to perform 80 hours of community service. He was also found responsible on speeding and marked lanes charges.

Pereira and his attorney, Joseph McDonald, spent much of the day going back and forth with the prosecutor and the judge, seeking a sentence of probation only, something McDonald suggested is "more severe" than a jail term.

"Obviously I'm not going to accept the defense recommendation," said Mori, who said he was considering at least a year in jail for Pereira.

It was only out of "respect" to the prosecutors, Weiner and William Melkonian, said Mori, that he would accept their recommendation.

Weiner read a victim-impact statement from Speliotis, 42, of Salem, who described how her ordinary day turned "horrific" after she decided to take a drive out to the Willows after dinner.

Suddenly she saw a gray car sliding toward her, and then flames. In shock and seriously injured, she managed to get out of her van before it too burst into flames.

Then, at the hospital, she looked up at a television screen and saw the crash on the news. She feared that her children would see it before she could call them.

Later, she went through "the most pain I've ever had, including childbirth," as doctors attempted to set her shattered ankle. She has had one operation and may need another, Weiner told the judge.

Swaczyk, 50, of Marblehead, also had surgery to repair a shattered tibia.

The judge also read a letter from Brandon Pereira's mother, who urged at least a year in jail for her own nephew — who spent most of the day sitting with Brandon in the courtroom gallery.

Brandon Pereira still has serious injuries, Lisa Pereira said.

In August, Brandon's father filed a lawsuit against Speliotis, claiming that she was at least partly at fault for not avoiding the crash. Their lawyer said at the time they were simply seeking financial assistance for Brandon's medical bills.

Weiner called the case "as bad as anything I've ever seen."

"In human terms alone, this is an incredibly dramatic experience, and a horrifying one," Weiner said.

McDonald, Timothy Pereira's lawyer, said his client works as a machinist and described him as a "kind and respectful young man," who but for a moment of "extremely poor judgment" lived an exemplary life.

McDonald also sought to downplay his client's role in a 2007 baseball bat attack in Peabody, for which he is still on probation, saying Pereira's role was as a "joint venturer."