PORTLAND go-kart driver Ewan Anderson raked in the awards at the Victorian Country Series Karting presentations in Melbourne on the weekend alongside some other local award winners.

The 12-year-old had a blistering season on the track, taking home the Cadet12 series championship as well as the Cadet12 Karter of the Year award.

The series is held across six rounds with the best five rounds of each driver counted towards their final tally.

Anderson placed in the top three in each of his five series appearances bar one, winning two rounds outright.

The Portland District Karting Club had plenty of representation in the winners with Scott King claiming first in Tag Heavy while Corey Herbertson (KA3 senior light) and Daniel Storer (Tag Restricted Medium) both finished in second place.

Daniel Rethus (Vic Combined Masters) and Kevin Hitchcock (Tag Restricted Heavy) rounded out Portland’s representation with both drivers finishing in third.

Anderson’s strong season was enough to earn him the top award in the Cadet12 group with Horsham proving to be his best round of racing.

“I went alright, my best was probably Horsham,” he said.

“I won all of the heats and the final. The kid I was competing against we were switching positions the whole time, he had a mechanical issue and had to stop in one of the heats so he had to start the final race pretty far back.

“In the final he caught up to me at the front and we were dicing a bit but then another driver came up behind us again, so I decided to hold back and wait. There was a lap kart that he was behind so I just followed him and then he ended up in the dust a bit.”

While Anderson knew he had taken out the series after the last meet, he also had another surprise award waiting for him at the presentations.

The Karter of the Year award is handed out in the four different race categories and considers personal performance as well as sportsmanship and respect which Anderson was awarded on the night.

“It’s about sportsmanship and respecting the other drivers, not just pushing them out of the way, it’s showing respect,” he said.

“We were there because of the series win and then I came home with two more trophies I didn’t expect.

“I had to do the speech and I was stuttering because I didn’t know what to say, I was so shocked and excited.”

Anderson backed up the awards ceremony on Saturday with an Enduro race in Melbourne where he finished in third place.

The race is an hour long with two five-minute pit stops that can be taken at any point as decided by the crew.

“You have five 20 minute practices during he Saturday and then qualifying on Sunday and then the race about half an hour later.

“Drivers and crew can figure out when you want to stop – I was in 14th place at one point and then dad knew there was going to be a yellow flag coming up so we pitted when that happened and then I went back out in fourth place.”

While the 12-year-old has had less time to practice on the track than usual with his representative basketball commitments, he says there is something about racing on the track that is so special.

“It’s fast, it’s fun and you have to think about every corner,” he said.

“On some tracks, if you get one corner wrong it can stuff up your next few corners but I like that about it. You have to concentrate.”