JUST five months after suffering a serious crash, a Falmouth road racer is working harder than ever to get back in the saddle.

Forest Dunn, 27, broke his back, leg and ankle during the Ulster Grand Prix in August and spent ten days in the same Belfast hospital as fellow competitor and TV presenter Guy Martin.

"I was doing around 100mph and I realised I'd come into the corner on the wrong line, which meant I'd be coming out of it on the wrong line.

"I tried to correct it but the rear wheel went on to the grass and the back end was gone. I was knocked out in the impact and when I woke up there was a marshal standing over me. I said to him: 'I think I've broken my leg.'"

Forest passed out again and later woke up in hospital, where Guy Martin also received treatment following a crash later in the same race.

Following an operation to pin his femur, Forest's determination to compete in 2016 has been admirable.

In November, less than three months after the crash, he cycled 103 miles in a day to "prove a point".

He is kickboxing and swimming every day and cycles at the weekend. What spare time he does have left, he devotes to rebuilding the engine of his transporter van, which blew up last year.

Speaking at his friend James George's workshop at Higher Argal Farm, where the van is based, Forest added: "Fitness is so important, I'm always trying to make myself quicker. I used a lifestyle coach last year to help with things like diet and mental preparation, because I want to get faster.

"It's a 24-7 job and you need persistence, determination and a desire to ride a bike fast."

His ultimate ambition is to compete in the Isle of Man TT, the famously dangerous race held every summer, but he is realistic as to the expense of such a commitment.

"It can cost me up to £10,000 on tyres alone and that's before the entry fees to competitions, which can be another £4,000. If I can find some local sponsors it would be a huge help, because it would mean I could spend more time practising on the track, which is the only way to get quicker," he said.

He was full of praise for sponsors Infinitus Security Ltd, based in St Day, and Maen Karne, who have four depots in the county including one in Penryn and also Barry and Delina Hughes, a Scottish couple who were the first people to help fund his ambition.

"I'd like to find another ten or twelve local sponsors if possible - I am aiming to compete in the North West 200 and Ulster Grand Prix again this year and after the accident, it has made me even hungrier," he said.

His plans for track testing in Spain, as he did last year, have been scuppered by the engine rebuild on his van, but Forest's steely desire to succeed is abundantly clear.

He said that he goes to bed every night thinking about how he can get quicker. One has the impression that he will stop at nothing to realise his dreams.

Anyone interested in sponsoring Forest can email him at forest-dunn@hotmail.co.uk