Another Blue Plate For McLaughlin

press release

Last Sunday Scott McLaughlin left Tasmania’s Briant Park Raceway a very happy young man after claiming his first State title win since moving to the senior ranks at the start of this year - adding to the two he scored in the Junior ranks.  The 16-year-old thoroughly dominated the opposition throughout the weekend, scoring pole position and four race wins on his way to taking out overall honours in the highly-competitive Senior Clubman Light division. 

pic by Brad Segda

During a weekend from heaven Scott was only headed once during the racing and quickly responded with a decisive pass to reclaim the lead in the Pre Final, before going on to win the Final by the length of the main straight.  A delighted McLaughlin was all smiles after his most dominant weekend of the year.

“Robbie (Morton, Team Engineer) gave me a great kart this weekend and we worked on an early race pace program that worked well for us.  Briant Park is a great circuit and suited my driving style perfectly and I’m just so happy to have scored my first Blue Plate, which comes with a win in any State Title.  Hopefully I can do the same again when we head to South Australia in late November.”

After a hectic schedule that including working for the Stone Brothers V8 Supercar Team at both Bathurst and again on the Gold Coast, McLaughlin also managed to find the time between his studies at school and racing commitments to head to Winton Motor Raceway in rural Victoria for his first Formula Ford Test on Friday, October 30.  Scott completed over 80 laps driving one of the CAMS Rising Star cars prepared and run by Minda Motorsport.

Team boss Bruin Beasley was very impressed with Scott’s approach, attitude and speed, commenting that Scott would be a future championship contender should he choose to pursue the Australian Formula Ford Championship.  This category has provided so many star drivers with Garth Tander, Craig Lowndes, Jamie Whincup and Will Davison just a handful of the current V8 Supercar stars who have previously won this coveted championship.

Scott loved every minute of his time behind the wheel and set very respectable lap times throughout the day.  “What a blast, it was incredible and I had to keep pinching myself that I was actually driving a full-blown racing car, and on a track that is very challenging with a lot of different corners to learn - especially the high-speed sweeper. 
I have to thank the guys at Minda, they were just great and really made me feel welcome even when I came back with some grass in the radiators after an off-track moment.  I want more and loved every second of it.”

Scott’s next major event is the South Australian State Titles, to be held at the Barossa Kart Club over the weekend of November 27-29.

RESULTS

TASMANIAN OPEN STATE TITLES - BRIANT PARK, TAS (November 6-8, 2009)

                        Qualifying         Race 1            Race 2          Pre Final       Final         Overall
Started                    1                   1                       1                       1                   1                1
Finished                                      1                       1                       1

 

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