THE Portland Motocross Club welcomed a huge contingent of drivers to Heywood for the first round of the Western Region series across the weekend.

As one of the club’s bigger events, there was riders from across the state hitting the track in what the club considered a hugely successful event.

Joint president Jason Trickey said it was a great turnout and ran smoothly off the back of the work of the club committee.

“We had really good numbers, in the end it was 296 entries I think which is great,” he said.

“Everything ran really well and we had no major incidents which was good.

“We never get much negative feedback from these events, people come down and they love the track and love the facilities so that’s really good to hear.”

There was some impressive performances from the local cohort with both junior and senior riders showing their skills on their home track.

Local rider Jet Bennett had a standout start to his year of racing, claiming first place in the MX2 Lites (C) class as well as the MX1 Open (C).

Along with Bennett there was plenty of other local talent on the track across the weekend who fought to get a good start in the seven-round series which takes place at different tracks across Victoria.

“Jet did really well and won all of his races,” Trickey said.

“Banjo Watt also did really well – all the local kids had a good crack and raced well.

“The Western Region is that next step up from local racing and we get kids from the Western area but further as well so it’s a good test.

“The senior guys all rode really well too.”

The next event is held in Colac on April 13-14, followed by events in Horsham, Shipwreck Coast, Ballarat, Edenhope and Ararat.

Portland’s ability to host large scale events will be showcased once again in April as they host a round of the Junior Victorian Titles.