Promising young Irish motorcycling prospect Josh Elliott flies out to Portugal today to compete in this weekend's 2008 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Championship at the famous Estoril race circuit.
13-year-old Elliott only acquired his full racing licence a year ago but has already raced at Jerez and tested at famous circuits such as Circuit Paul Ricard in France and the Sachsenring in Germany.
Elliott was one of thousands of kids who submitted applications for inclusion in the Championship.
The selection process was narrowed to 100 riders and then further reduced after two tough tests on and off the aforementioned circuits. Only 12 riders were selected from all of the applicants with Elliott being the last name called out.
For 2008 the organisers decided to retain the 10 hottest prospects from the previous years Championship to place a maximum of 22 riders on the grid. These represent 22 of the best and fastest young riders in the World.
Elliott comes from Ballinamallard in County Fermanagh and attends Portora school in Enniskillen and is a four-time Irish National Minimoto Champion, a sport which has undoubtedly helped him migrate to the larger bikes.
Elliott can look forward to Estoril having secured 10th and 16th places in the first round at Jerez which was a double header.
There will be one race this weekend for the Red Bull Rookies.
Elsewhere, Eugene Laverty hopes to open his points scoring account in the MotoGP 250 class this weekend after a disastrous start to his 2008 season.
Eugene struggled at the challenging circuit of Jerez largely due to a lack of options in chassis setting.
Two DNFs certainly weren't on Laverty's wish list but some new chassis parts were.
Laverty said: 'I prefer not to think about the first two rounds as I've had a nightmare time. We were expecting some bits for the chassis at Jerez but they didn't arrive and having tested there twice in the off-season I knew that the rear was too aggressive for the Jerez circuit.
'I high-sided twice in practice when trying to push on and then the engine broke in the race so it was a weekend to forget.'
Having finished 14th at the GP of Estoril last year Eugene will be looking to find the same kind of form on Sunday to kickstart his 2008 campaign.
