Ryan Murray pleaded guilty to 21 charges in the Ballarat Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Murray had been estimated travelling at 120km/h along the Western Highway towards Stawell, overtaking a number of cars, including a policeman on his way to work, on April 25 of last year.

The court heard on a number of other occasions between April and November police had intercepted Murray driving without an accompanied licenced driver, including one incident on November 13 where Murray became agitated at police who attempted to remove the keys from his car to prevent him driving off.

Police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Pepe Brown said Murray hit the officer in the face and continued to resist arrest despite capsicum spray being deployed.

The court also heard the accused had been involved in the theft a car from a Howitt Street dealership in the early hours of October 19.

The young man’s lawyer told the court the matter had been deferred in February to allow her client to participate in the credit bail program.

She said Murray had taken advantage of the programs available to him during the time to address issues with alcohol and cannabis.

In addition to the program and spending 81 days in pre-sentence detention, she said Murray had turned his life around with no further offending.

“He has distanced himself from negative influences… and is working on maintaining a healthier lifestyle,” the lawyer said.

She urged the magistrate not to use her client as an example for general deterrence.

Magistrate Robert Kumar placed Murray on a 12-month community corrections order with orders to complete 150 hours of community work.

Murray was also fined $2000 and disqualified from driving for six months.