PORTLAND’S King of the Dunes has been on hiatus for the past six years; however, tomorrow will see the return of the event which will see more than a dozen racers descend on the town to take on the 12km circuit.

It’s a milestone event which sees the return of an event not seen for more than half a decade on the track situated out at Swan Lake – 35km north-west of Portland.

 Adding to the importance of the day for local driver Jake Stevenson is that he will be behind the wheel for the first time in an official race.  

Stevenson is no stranger to this type of event, having sat in the navigator seat alongside his dad Peter countless times, but he said sitting in the drivers seat will be a new experience.

“This will be my first race in a new car as well, I’ve been racing alongside my dad since 2009 and this is my first opportunity to do it in the drivers seat… I’m very excited,” he said.

“Daniel Maybery, a friend of mine from Melbourne who we’ve met in various events over the years, is coming along to navigate with me… he’s been out of it for a couple of years now but wanted to get back into it.”

The event is a gruelling one, with drivers competing in two heats compromised of eight laps of the circuit, meaning a total of almost 200kms covered.

“To be honest the main goal for me is simply to finish, it’s rare for someone to finish their first ever race so that would be a fantastic result,” he said.

“The expectation is for the quicker cars to finish their heat in about an hour and 40 minutes, if I could come in somewhere under two hours that would be fantastic.

“I’ve taken it out for a couple of practice runs and had plenty of seat time, I’ve got pretty used to the car so I’m confident in having a good run (tomorrow).”

Event organiser Kate Nicol said its great for the community to have this event return, admittedly with fewer participants than they’d initially hoped for.

“We’ve got 20 entrants which is still a great turn out, but we were hoping for closer to 30, I suppose it’s a starting point for us to build on,” Nicol said.

“Given we haven’t run for six years due to COVID and other various reasons, I still think this is a good turnout.

“This event is particularly special as its one of the only ones in Australia to do a mass start, there’s only one other in Tasmania which I can think of.

“It’ll be great to see Jake out there racing, unfortunately Peter can’t compete this year as he’s suffered an injury so he might have to wait until next year.”