FOLLOWING the thrilling final round of the 2024 Victorian Country Series in Hamilton last weekend, three Portland District Karting Club drivers have been crowned winners of their classes.

Scott King claimed a three-peat of series wins in the TaG Heavy class after taking out honours last year and in 2022, rising star Brocklan Parker won his first championship in the KA3 Senior Light Class and nine-year-old prodigy Beau Chambers took out the Cadet 9 class.

Having been around the front of the pack for much of his almost decade-long karting career, Brocklan Parker, 17, said he had strived for the number one position this year.

“This is my first ever year winning a championship, it feels great to actually have some success and be standing on the top step,” he said.

“This year I put in a lot more dedication towards the series, we haven't done much racing outside of this one.

“Dad and I spent a lot more time out in the shed working on the kart, a lot more preparation before each race and I had a stronger mentality entering each race.

“There was one round where we decided to go to Murray Bridge for the race and we had a brand-new chassis, but I ended up destroying it.

“At first it was one of those rounds that you don’t want to look back on, but it was surprisingly good for my mentality.

“I just wanted to get out there again, and the weekend after that I almost had a clean sweep of the meet.”

Parker, who wants to become a race engineer in the near-future, said he and his father Paul would usually work on his kart together, but that Brocklan took over the job with the championship on the line.

“I had the pressure of winning the championship on the weekend and dad actually didn't do anything to the cart,” he said.

“Everything was me - I did all the changes and did everything myself because I was in the zone and dad just sat back, relaxed and watched me do the work.”

And Brocklan’s work paid off, going quickest in qualifying and winning two of the four heats to wrap up the title.

“It was a battle entering this round,” he said.

“I knew it was going to be close, but I had some really good results over the weekend which gave me a 500-point lead to just pull away with the win.”

In the Cadet 9 class, nine-year-old wonderkid Beau Chambers wrapped up his series win in the perfect style, claiming a clean sweep in Hamilton by winning all heats and the final to push the margin to second place out to 1927 points.

Beau’s father Todd said his son had made something of a habit of coming away from meets with first placed finishes.

“We missed one round, but Beau won two meets in clean sweeps and then did pretty well in the other two that we went to,” he said.

“He's got a bit of a unique driving style, so it's tricky to get the kart how he likes it, but when we get it right he's pretty hard to beat.”

Beau won’t be hanging around to defend his title in Cadet 9s next season, as he prepares to step up into the higher class.

“He was due to go up to the next class after next year to Cadet 12s,” Todd said.

“But because he did so well, he said, "Dad, I want to leave on a high" so we've popped him up a class now and his next race will be in the 12s.

“The big thing I preach with Beau is self-belief, when you have belief in yourself and your own ability, look at what you can turn around and achieve.

“I had a person ask me the other day why I don’t race him, and I told them there's no point in racing him when he’s already better than me, I just didn't think it would happen this quick.”

Scott King’s dominance in the TaG Heavy class was on display for the entire series, blitzing the competition to win the series by a 2178-point margin.

After a handful of strong finishes early in the series, King turned up the style late in the competition to finish off the last two rounds with a pair of clean sweeps in Horsham and Hamilton.

The consistent performer didn’t miss a VCS round this season, and drivers across the Heavy class have become accustomed to seeing the rear of King’s kart as he continues to be the driver to beat in the class.