Just ask Marcus Fairbanks. His will take him all the way to the Maribor in Slovenia for next month's MTB World Cup Series.

The 17-year-old Ballarat rider heads to opening round of the six-round downhill mountain bike series on May 16, with expectations of finishing among the top 50 senior riders in the world.

The real prize for Fairbanks, though, is a place in the Australian junior team for the MTB World Championships in Quebec, Canada, in August.

"There are seven spots in the Australian team for the world championships in elites and seven for juniors,'' Fairbanks explains. "My goal is to be part of the junior team.

"I was seeded second at the national championships, and stuffed up my race run and finished sixth. Sixth was still in that top seven but it's a bit disappointing when you're seeded second.

"If I do well in international races, though, that ranks higher than Australian races.''

Fairbanks, who hopes to fly out on April 30 with brother and "manager'' Benjamin, hopes to compete at up to four rounds of the World Cup Series, after entering just one round - in Schladming, Austria - last year. If he earns his place in the Australian team, though, he would up that to a fifth round.

The Ballarat Grammar student, who has earned the backing of the City of Ballarat, said he could not take it for granted that he would qualify for the national squad.

"Australia dominates the sport. Four out of the top 10 in elite are Aussies and Sean O'Coonor finished second at the World Championships, so there's competition for places,'' he said.

Fairbanks said he was back to close to his best after struggling with severe concussion for a period. Despite suffering severe concussion four times, banging his jaw out of alignment and losing "a lot of skin", he counts himself lucky on the injury front.

Riders hurtle down hills on rocky tracks at up to 60km/h in World Cup events.