HUTTON Roof 17-year-old Dan Farley has won a spot on Team GB for the first two rounds of the 2013 UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup at Fort William in Scotland and Val Di Sole in Italy.

Dan and his older brother Andy have been racing downhill for four years supported by cycle superstore Wheelbase in Staveley.

Racing has taken them all over the country with events mainly centred around hills in Wales and Scotland.

The call-up is a dream come true for the QES student, who has been delivering consistently strong results in the British Downhill Series and other national races.

After narrowly missing out on the national championships last July, Farley went on to win the 2012 English Championship, finish second in the 2012 British Downhill Series, and third in the national points rankings.

British Cycling select six Junior riders to take to the World Cup events where they will be competing against riders from all over the world.

The races follow a similar format to downhill skiing with practice days followed by a seeding run and a race run against the clock.

This is the first year that the 17 to 18 year old Juniors will have their own race and the events will be streamed live on redbull.tv.

The Fort William race takes place this Sunday, with the Val Di Sole race in the Italian Dollomites on the following Sunday.

Dan thanked his sponsors Wheelbase for supplying his Kona Supreme Operator racebike under the Kona Grassroots scheme.

The youngster is also supported by Descend Hamsterley, which is a downhill bike park near Barnard Castle where much of his off-season training takes place throughout the winter.

“I feel very proud riding for my country and it's exciting to be following in the footsteps of some fast riders,” Farley said.

"I have already raced at Fort William twice so coming into the first round of the World Cup I feel that I know the track quite well.

“I have never been to Italy so I don't really know what the track is like but judging by videos I have seen it looks really fun."

"As for this year I'm just trying to learn how racing the World Cup circuit works so that I'm ready for my second year in the Junior category and then hopefully make it into the Elite category".

Older brother Andy will support Dan as mechanic.

Proud father Paul said: “We are immensely proud of Dan being given the chance to wear a GB jersey.”