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The 14-year-old finished third in the juvenile class of British Cycling's mountain bike series and has collected 10 trophies during the season.

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Matthew finished in second place in the Pearce Cycles Series in Shropshire and third in the National Points Series in Wales and Scotland.

And after his win in the Hamsterley Series he has been asked to join the Hamsterley racing team when he moves up to junior next year.

In addition to the these events Matthew also took part in individual races, mostly in Scotland and Wales.

In fact such is his determination to succeed that even though he crashed in the Scarborough Downtown Race he finished in fifth place!

His mum, Elaine, told Garforth Today: "The race is at night from the castle to the promenade. Matthew fell off a ramp near the end and his bike was buckled so badly that he couldn't ride it again. So he picked it up and ran over the finishing line."

Matthew is sponsored by Dave Rayner Cycles, of Garforth, and his family are now hoping more businesses will come forward to help next season.

Mrs Downes said: "He wants to upgrade his bike to a lighter model which hopefully will give him more speed. As a junior he also hopes to take part in the Maxxis Cup, a series of races in Europe, which is more expense.

"Even the fuel to travel to the different venues is costly and his local track at Hamsterley Forest, near Bishop Auckland, where he practices at weekends, is almost 100 miles away.

"And entry fees to the National Points Series alone was £300."

Matthew, a student at Garforth Community College, first developed an interest in the mountain biking three years ago when the family were on holiday in the French Alps and he saw the cyclists going down the mountains.

* Anyone who is interested in sponsoring Matthew should contact his dad Chris on 07860 782720.