Motorsport: Champ pushing hard to defend title

Hastings driver Tim Forster was looking good in his opening race until a concrete wall got in the way - at 180km/h.

Picking up two races out of three at last weekend's Manfeild round of the Pro7 Championship Series was a great recovery for Hastings driver Tim Forster after a disastrous outing at Pukekohe.

He suffered what he called a major "off" in the second race during the Pukekohe round of the championship which put a major dent in his quest to retain the North Island Pro7 title which he picked up last season, and a shot at the national title in which he had finished runner-up.

"But like they say, that's motorsport."

However, during last weekend's round he came back strongly. After taking a third on Saturday in the opening race of three for the weekend he went out and cleaned up both Sunday races to win the overall round by one point.

It was indeed a sharp comeback as the car had required a fair bit of sorting after the Pukekohe incident.

He went off at one of the fastest corners and slid into a concrete wall at about 180km/h.

"The first contact bent the steering which sent me sideways across the track into the wall on the opposite side as well," Forster said.

He managed to get the ailing car safely off the track.

He said apart from the damaged steering the major damage was to the panels so the repairs were able to be sorted without too many issues and he was able to get back on the starting grid for last weekend's round.

"It was a pretty good return," he said, adding his concerns about the car's handling in the wake of the big Pukekohe impact soon disappeared as he grabbed the third place and followed it up with the brace of wins.

With two more rounds in the championships to go, at Hampton Downs and Taupo, he is sitting in second place.

"I'm a little way behind first after the Pukekohe crash but I'll be pushing hard at the next two rounds to get back as many points as I can."