ON the day Ipswich Speedway star Lawrence Hare learned the catastrophic news he was paralysed from the chest down a fellow sportsman offered a message of hope.

By Amanda Cresswell

ON the day Ipswich Speedway star Lawrence Hare learned the catastrophic news he was paralysed from the chest down a fellow sportsman offered a message of hope.

'Lol' Hare, 32, was told by doctors he would never walk again following in horrific crash in Newport last weekend while riding for his current club Exeter.

But as Lawrence, from Ipswich, struggles to come to terms with the devastating news former rider John Simmons, who suffered a similar tragedy, gave words of encouragement.

Simmons was a promising young rider for Ipswich Witches at Peterborough when another rider crashed into his bike from behind and sent him into a wooden fence in July 1973. He had just turned 18.

But three decades later he is leading a happy and active life from his home in Ipswich.

See the full story in tonight's Evening Star.