At Spain’s Almeria Circuit, the 15-year-old needed to prove his mettle within a group of 109 riders from 31 different countries in order to become one of just 10 successful riders.

Fellow Australians Joel Kelso and Ned Faulkhead also travelled to Spain for the selection process and while Kelso made it through to the final group of 49 riders, he missed out on the third and final day.

“On that third and final day, the first session was wet, I was going well but then I had a big highside out of one of the corners,” van Eerde said following the news. “Luckily, I had already put in a quick time before the crash. The second session was fully dry and I got a good time towards the end after building back up after my crash, which ended up being enough to get me through. It’s going to be such a great experience and I can’t wait to start training.”

By Kel Buckley

Billy Van Earde wearing 2 singlet