LAWRENCE Hare has joined the Evening Star speedway team.Unable to race any more after suffering a horrendous injury at Newport last year, the 33-year-old is to give his expert view on Ipswich Witches matches in the coming season.

By Elvin King

LAWRENCE Hare has joined the Evening Star speedway team.

Unable to race any more after suffering a

horrendous injury at Newport last year, the

33-year-old is to give his expert view on Ipswich Witches matches in the coming season.

He will be joined by Witches skipper Scott Nicholls, who will continue his popular diary in the Star every week.

Hare, who was left paralysed from the waist down following his crash while riding for Exeter, is keen to get started.

Speaking with the same candour and assurance that made him such a popular rider and has won him thousands of new friends and admirers since his crash, Hare said:

"I am excited about my new speedway job. It will be hard to watch speedway again, but I have to do it.

"Running a rule over Ipswich matches will be enjoyable and if I cannot ride then this is the next best thing."

Hare is also assistant manager of Exeter, who ride in the Premier Leaguer and he will be driving down to the west country for their Monday night home matches. He will also be penning a monthly column for the Speedway Star magazine.

For Nicholls this will be a huge year. He has taken over from Chris Louis as Witches captain and has the responsibility of leading a team made rank outsiders by the bookies for the Sky Sports Elite League title.

He also has much to prove on the world scene after testing the water in 2002, his first full year in the Grand Prix series.

"I finished on the rostrum in the last GP in Sydney, and want to build on that," he said. "I have a couple of little issues to sort out with Ipswich before the season starts.

"I never get that excited before a season begins. But once I sit in the saddle in earnest I shall really get into it again. Ipswich has a side that can do well, and we shall delight in proving the doubters wrong."

And to confirm the Evening Star's commitment to speedway, the award-winning publication will be the Witches main sponsor for the fifth successive season.

Regarded throughout the circuit as the best speedway paper, it's team is raring to go, with informed comment and reports plus the best pictures from Simon Parker and Steve Waller.