Victorian driver Dale Martin and navigator Mark Degruchy have romped their way to a third-successive outright victory at the Wentworth Shire Pooncarie Desert Dash.
The Pro Buggy pairing strung together a weekend of near-faultless performances to dominate the event in south-west New South Wales, triumphing in a field that began with 74 entries but succumbed to a higher-than-usual attrition rate.
Taking maximum points across the Method Race Wheels Prologue and Saturday’s Section 1, Martin was clinical during Sunday’s three-lap Section 2. He managed to pull together the fastest time on each completed lap, gently extending his lead while also managing the race from the front for the very first time.
“It feels really good to string three together, I’m really proud of that,” Martin said.
“I like it here and I always feel safe. You can always hang it out and be creative with your lines. There’s a lot of room, it allows you to really get into it and run a high pace.”
Hot on the heels of Martin all weekend was the South Australia Pro Buggy pairing of Todd Lehmann and Aaron Bermingham, who finished outright second. Completing the podium at Pooncarie Trophy Truck entrant Toby Whateley and navigator Max Pietrolaj.
Pooncarie proved a difficult first stop of the Comiskey Mining Services Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship for many, with moderate winds, dust and a deteriorating track creating a tough driving environment.
There were many casualties early on, including championship front runners Beau Robinson and Shane Hutt, and Boston Morgan-Horan and navigator Will Haddock – both ruled out with mechanical issues.
West Australian Brent Smoothy came agonisingly close to a dream podium in Pooncarie, running third outright until his trophy truck suffered a mechanical issue on the last lap.
Elsewhere, the tricky conditions claimed many competitors through either mechanical DNFs or rollovers.
However, it wasn’t enough to stop 16-year-old West Australian driver Logan Gill and navigator Leigh Van Der Wall.
On their maiden AORC appearance, the pairing were near faultless, storming to victory in the competitive AORC SXS class ahead of defending AORC SXS champion Lachie Bailey and Jordan Zollo.
“I’m ecstatic and I can’t quite believe it to be honest,” Gill said.
“It’s really rough out there and there’s a lot of carnage. There’s plenty of cars out on the side of the track, I’m just glad I made it back.”
Gill said he dared to dream of the breakthrough win after coming home first in Saturday’s Section 1 in Pooncarie. The rest was history.
Completing the SXS podium at the New South Wales event was Queenslander Lochlan Waters and Kevin Waters.
The Comiskey Mining Services Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship now turns it attention to the Finke Desert Race in June.
Until then you can stay up to date with all the latest AORC news on the Motorsport Australia website, YouTube and social channels.
