Although Cr Kelly was not successful in his bid to win the horsepower class 51-60, it was a chance to again enter one of his brother's machines — a Nuffield tractor.

He was competing to gain honours of winning the Pete Kelly Memorial Trophy, named after his brother who died in 2009.

"Unfortunately I was beaten this weekend by Ryan Johnston, of Meander," Cr Kelly said.

He said he and Pete started tractor pulling about 2001 and had a strong ongoing rivalry in competition.

"My brother used to pretty much beat me most of the time, he'd had a lot more experience with tractors than I had," Cr Kelly said.

"We had a FIAT 80R and used to take it in turns.

"When he went out and did the first pull with it, I wasn't taking any notice whatsoever, he came back in and when I went for my turn I asked what gear he used — he told me 'second gear'.

"It was a very heavy track, I got three-quarters of the way up and stalled it. He was in the pits area nearly on hands and knees laughing, that's how competitive we were, he set me up good and proper."

He said a highlight of the weekend event was the spectacle of Victoria's miniature modified tractors, described as "like a sprint car on steroids".

"I think they're going to try and organise coming back again, they had such a great time," Cr Kelly said.