AS an 18-year-old competing against the best elite men's riders from across the globe, Oli Moran knows he will be an underdog for the Bathurst rounds of the UCI Supercross BMX World Cup.
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But that's exactly how he likes it.
For the Manning Valley BMX rider, this weekend in Bathurst will not be about chasing podiums and earning points towards Olympic Games selection.
Instead it will be about testing himself against the world's best, learning from them and gaining experience which will serve him well in future races.
"Coming into this year, to have these big races to start this year, it will be good to see what it is like racing with the older boys. Hopefully it starts my year off good," Moran, who is still eligible to compete in the men's junior elite class, said.
"The quality of the field is crazy good, so my goal is just to experience racing with all the international, older riders and hopefully make it through a few rounds. I will just take it race by race and see where I can get up to.
"No-one expects a junior to be in the final, so there's no pressure on. Each race is going to be hard, so it will be interesting just to be there. I do like riding against older people, I do like that underdog thing.
"The World Cup hasn't really been my goal yet, but it will be good just to give it a go and get that experience. I'm still a junior this year, I'm still a young one.
"Definitely I'd like to go to the Olympics in the future. I'm 18 now, so in four years I'll be 22, this is just stepping stones. To be amongst it all, even if I don't go well, it will be a good motivator to see what I have to do to be competitive.
"It will just be a win-win for me, I can only win going there."
While Moran may not have the experience of many of those he will ride against this weekend, he has already proven himself on the world stage.
Last year he won the men's junior elite silver medal at the 2019 UCI BMX World Championships in Belgium. He was the the first Australian to make the podium in that category in four years.
"I was pretty stoked with last year. I was a first year junior last year, so I was one of the younger ones, and I didn't have too many expectations so to go good was a big confidence booster, it's like I can do it," he said.
Last weekend Moran made his UCI Supercross BMX World Cup debut in Shepparton as the opening two rounds of the 2020 series were conducted. His results show why the word 'potential' has often been used in reference to him.
In round one he placed 124th out of the 135 riders with a best time of 39.812 seconds. But the following day in round two, Moran clocked a 36.942 to rank 75th.
They are results he will look to further improve on in Bathurst and Moran will carry with him past experience at the track.
Since the Bathurst track was revamped, Moran has attended two training camps. He likes the flow of the new layout and feels it could work in his favour.
"I really like the new changes, they are really good. The second straight is so fast and I like that the corners are big, it should mean the racing is really good, especially from where I'll be," he said.
"I'm not going to be at the front, so I'll have to try and make passes through the corners. It will be helpful with those big corners to try and make some moves.
"The Bathurst track, there's not really any other track like it. It's pretty unique in how downhill it is and how fast it is, it's just different to the other tracks on the World Cup circuit. It will be interesting to see how the racing goes on it."
Riders will get the chance to get a feel for the track on Saturday morning during a 55-minute practice session - the men split into two groups while the women have one.
Racing will then commence with the first round for the elite men from 11am, with the women's first round to follow at 11.35am.
The women's final is at 3pm, the men's at 3.10pm.