Cycling: Rising star aims high

High-flying Donald Ross has proven he is one of the best in the world when it comes to battling it out on a BMX track.

The gutsy 16-year-old rode himself into sixth place and a world ranking in the final moto of his age group at the BMX World Championships in Birmingham, England.

It's a cut-throat, high-speed sport where one mistake can put you at the back of the pack in a blink. And if you don't nail the start and the straight into the first corner, you can forget the rest of the race against the elite speedsters in the sport.

But a gruelling training regime saw the Whangarei Boys High School student prove that anything is possible - even based in Whangarei, far from the training tracks of the dominant nations in the sport.

Eight sessions a week including strength training at the gym, three sessions at the track working with a speedo and a stopwatch, plus road sprints, ensured he was up to speed at the world champs.

The track in Birmingham's National Indoor Arena was built from scratch in just one week, featuring dirt jumps and trails to replicate an outside BMX track. A capacity crowd of more than 4000 cheered on the riders as they rode the track, leaping in the air and putting on spectacular aerial displays.

In the 16-year-old boys division, Ross reached the semifinals in the 20 inch class and finished 6th out of 116 in the world. In the cruiser class he rode into 6th place and a world ranking of 6th. Only the top eight are officially world ranked.

"In the final race I had the outside lane. I had a good start but pushed to the outside and the other guys took off," Ross said of the final.

"I managed to work my way back to sixth."

He said international racing was a great yardstick. The 16-year-old boys classes were dominated by French, Dutch, US, Australian, Latvian and Brazilian riders.

"I didn't think I was going to do that well. I was aiming for top 16. Overseas trips let you see where you are against the rest of the world.

"You lift your game at those big meets and if you make a mistake it's all over."

After nine years in the sport, this was his fifth world champs. But it was his last performance at Copenhagen that spurred him on to achieve this year.

"I could have done better than what I did. It gave me motivation to keep going."

He knows time spent training pays dividends on race day.

Ross has the backing of dad Alan, who was impressed with the international competition in the UK.

"It was extremely tough riding with the depth of quality riders from many countries and in the deadman rounds.

"One mistake and you do not progress to the next round," he said.