FORMER stock car racer Paul Hoey will be sentenced in six weeks after being found guilty of driving into a lorry at 110mph.Hoey, 30, of Bramford Road, Ipswich had denied a charge of dangerous driving when his sports car collided with a lorry on the A14.

FORMER stock car racer Paul Hoey will be sentenced in six weeks after being found guilty of driving into a lorry at 110mph.

Hoey, 30, of Bramford Road, Ipswich had denied a charge of dangerous driving when his sports car collided with a lorry on the A14.

Hoey was trapped in his two-door Pontiac Trans-Am after the collision and the roof had to be cut off so that he could be released by the emergency services.

Ipswich Crown Court heard that he had been driving in the near side lane of the A14 at Wherstead heading towards Felixstowe at 2pm on August 22 last year.

Robert Sadd, prosecuting, told the court that a lorry had been in the near side lane and was being overtaken lawfully by a Nissan car. Hoey tried to go between the two vehicles while driving at 110mph but crashed into the back of the lorry.

Hoey, had been a stock car racer before retiring six years ago and had a clean driving licence.

He was the only person to be injured in the accident and suffered head injuries that meant he could not remember the incident.

Summing up the case Mr Sadd said: "How is it with no mechanical difficulties, on a clear day, that he managed to crash his car into the back of a lorry with such force?

"It was not just a shunt, it had an impact of considerable force. More than one independent reliable witness said Hoey was driving at an astonishing speed and he tried to create a third lane when there was not one.

"His driving at that point fell far below the standard of a reasonable, capable driver and it was dangerous."

The jury of seven men and five women retired for one hour before they found Hoey guilty.

Hoey will appear at Bury Crown Court in the week commencing December 15 for sentencing.