PORTLAND’S Southern 500 Speedway capped off its 2023-24 season in style with its presentation evening held recently to celebrate the accomplishments of its members.

The best and brightest across the various categories were celebrated as the podium finishers in Junior New Stars, Junior Top Stars, Production Sedans and Super Rods were all acknowledged.

In addition, the club also inducted two new life members, with Dennis Kohlman and Matt Domburg’s contributions to the club both recognised.

Club secretary Hannah Carter said the event proved a great way to cap off the season.

“I guess it wasn’t only a presentation to celebrate the achievements of our racers but also to thank our volunteers and sponsors for what they’ve put in over the past season,” she said.

“It was a very busy and successful season; we had a lot of open wheelers and sprint car events which was great to see.”

Carter said that the club will have a short break before beginning to ramp up its preparations for the 2024-25 schedule, which she said they expect to build upon the last.

“We’re holding our AGM on July 28, and from there we’ll look into securing our feature races for the season with the sprintcars and speedweek and others,” she said.

“We’re hoping to host a lot of events over the New Year period, it’s not set in stone yet but we’re looking at hosting December 29, January 2 and January 4.”

Carter said the club was honoured to have presented Kohlman and Domburg with their life memberships, and she said they’ve both had a significant influence on the club.

“Dennis has done our gate entry for the past 20-odd years, we’ve always been able to count on him and he does it no questions asked,” she said.

“Matt has been a big part of the club especially the caravan race which is now known as the Anton Domburg Memorial race.”