Habicht, from Sebastopol, heads off to Fort William in Scotland tomorrow to contest the first of two rounds he plans to enter in the six-round MTB 4X (four cross) World Cup next month.

The goal: to finish high enough to qualify for the Australian team that will head to the 4X World Championships at Mont St Anne in Canada, in September.

The 19-year-old is ranked fourth in Australia for the head-to-head short-course mountain bike discipline that pits four riders against one another on each rough, downhill run. However, he needs a strong result in Scotland on June 5th, or in Austria two weeks later, to guarantee selection for the Australian team.

"For automatic selection I need to finish in the top eight overall in either round. If I can do that once, that will get me on the team," Habicht says.

"You can also get selected onto the team by the coaching panel if there are not enough to fill the team otherwise."

Habicht, who was the 2004 Australian under-15 Downhill MTB champion, is following the path of downhill junior Marcus Fairbanks, who competed at Maribor in Slovenia last month.

If the pair are selected for their respective Australian squads, they will be in Canada at the same time, albeit in separate disciplines.

Habicht switched from downhill to 4X two years ago and also rides BMX, contesting the BMX nationals three weeks ago.

However, the World Cup round at Fort William will be the first time Habicht has competed internationally.

"I'm pretty pumped just to be doing it," he said.