ARTICLE PORTLAND OBSERVER NEWSPAPER

MCLAUGHLIN WINS DEVRIES MEMORIAL

27 May 2009
By DEAN MILLARD

SCOTT McLaughlin has won the inaugural Colin DeVries Memorial event at the Portland Karting Club on Sunday, proving to be too classy for the field across the three rounds.

The Clubman Light event, which was run in conjunction with the second round of the Victorian Country Series, was hotly contested between a number of high quality drivers, but the 14-year-old rising talent was a little too slick for the competition, winning two of the three rounds to win by 141 points.

McLaughlin is currently on a scholarship from Britek Racing and looks to be on his way to compete at higher levels of motor sport racing in the future. Runner up was Adelaide based driver Joshua Tynan on 986 points, with Ben Bensley taking third with 920 points off the back of winning the second round of the event.

Local drivers Mat Keiller and Declan Sherwell raced well but were not able to match the leaders, finishing in eighth and ninth respectively. There were other Portland drivers who faired better over the weekend however.

Current Victorian Open Junior National Heavy State Champion Aaron Johnstone showing his class to win the second round of the country series with 1163 points, winning two heats and finishing second in the other after fighting his way through the field. Anton DePasquale was runner up on 1026 points, Mitchell Wilmot third and the rest of the field further back.

Johnstone finished runner up in the Junior Clubman event despite winning two of the three events, with Simon Hodge just edging him out by taking three podium finishes to score 1087 points, 21 more than Johnstone. Wilmont was again third, scoring 848 points.

Scott King also tasted success on Sunday, winning both of his classes, although not without a fight in both. King won the first round off the Clubman Heavy class and finished 2nd in the second to take a commanding lead, with a fourth placing in the third and final race giving him 1087 points to win the class.

Mitchell Cuzens won the final race to finish second on 1026, with Travis Millar third on 956. Locally based drivers Kevin Millard and Kimberly Johnstone were not far off the pace, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

King also won the rotax heavy class in brilliant fashion, winning all three races. It was a superb effort given King was driving in a borrowed kart in a field he had never competed in before, while the presence of Victorian title holder Corey McCullagh in the field made sure it was always competitive racing.

Portland was well represented in the senior national pro class, taking three of the top four positions. Andrew Rae won the event with 1163 points, with Portland's Brad Anderson runner up on 1019 and club mate Josh Tapscott third on 1011, while fellow Portlander Declan Sherwell was fourth on 840.

Portland driver David Denboer was impressive in the Midgets class; finishing fourth on 500 points, while fellow Portlanders Scott Denboer and Kobe Trigg were 10th and 15th respectively. Blake Graham took out the event, scoring 802 points by winning both races, with Chase Woolley second on 722.

Tynan dominated the Leopard Light division to win all three races after showing some great race tactics throughout, sitting just off the back of runner up Ben Kilsby throughout most of the races before swooping on the lead in the final stages. Kilsby was runner up in all three races.

Nick Gottlewski also took a clean sweep in the Rotax light class, with Broe Shiells second and Ian Thornley third, with all three being on the podium in all three races.

The Rookies class saw another clean sweep, with Jake Klein unbeatable to finish on the maximum 1203 points.

The over-40s class saw the most spectacular accident for the weekend, with more than half the field departing from competition at the first corner of the second race.

Only seven karts in the Over-40s class made it through racing, with Bevan Walker rewarded for his consistency with the overall win. Greg Matchoss was an unlucky second after winning the first and third race but being caught up in the carnage of the all in crash in the second.

The final event of the weekend saw Andrew Petrou take a 72-point win in the Junior National Light, edging out Bradley Jenner and Todd Hazelwood.

Portland Karting Club president Trevor Sherwell
said the club could not have asked for better
racing over the weekend, with the weather perfect.

"The rain held off perfectly for us, and because the sun was behind clouds most of weekend the track conditioned never changed, which made for some great racing, because the drivers were not having to adjust their setups as the track warmed up or cooled down," Sherwell said.

He said it was good to see some really top classed drivers at the event, adding he believed McLaughlin and Tynan had good futures ahead of them in the sport based on what he had seen over the weekend.

"Scott won the Colin DeVries Memorial event and spoke exceptionally well afterwards, thanking the DeVries family.

"He just raced really well, he was a really clean racer and was able to get around other karts really cleanly and just use his speed.

"I think we are going to see a lot more from him as a driver, he should do really well in the future.

"The same can be said for Josh Tynan, who was another big name who came down to race.

"He is a very talented guy and a nice guy too.

"I had a bit of a chance to talk to him over the weekend and I honestly believe he will go places as well," Sherwell said.

NEXT ROUND 21st June, South West Kart Club - Cobden Round 3
www.victoriancountryseries.com