Victoria’s Dale Martin and navigator Mark Degruchy are a step closer to securing a third consecutive outright victory at the Wentworth Shire Pooncarie Desert Dash, after dominating the first day of the 2026 event.
The Pro Buggy driver put on a clinic across the Comiskey Mining Services Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship Method Race Wheels Prologue and Section 1 on Saturday to lead home a field of faster, more advanced trophy trucks and buggies in the New South Wales event.
Martin held off the fast-finishing trophy truck entry of Boston Morgan-Horan and navigator Will Haddock by just three seconds across 55 minutes of running during the one-lap session, with South Australia Pro Buggy pairing of Todd Lehmann and Aaron Bermingham rounding out the top three in Section 1, 13 seconds back.
Martin claimed back-to-back victories at the Pooncarie event in 2024 and 2025, and says the Section 1 result has him daring to dream of a three-peat outright result.
“That’s a dream start for us exactly what we were hoping for,” Martin said.
“It was our first time ever (leading from Prologue). To have 100 blokes behind you and chasing you, I’ve always envied and thought what a great experience it would be.
“It’s a once in a lifetime sort of experience.”
Although he couldn’t quite get the wood over Martin, Kiwi driver Morgan-Horan said the Section 1 result handed him valuable points for the four-round Comiskey Mining Service Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship.
This is especially the case since the fellow front-running Extreme 2WD entry of Beau Robinson and Shane Hutt were unable to complete Section 1 due to a mechanical failure. With Robinson unlikely to address the issue in time for Section 2 on Sunday, it hands Morgan-Horan a key championship advantage.
“Our plan on Sunday is just to go out and have fun,” Morgan-Horan said. “We had a fun run today, the aim now is just to get to the finish.”
Trophy Trucks were a constant theme elsewhere in the top 10, with Toby Whateley and Brent Smoothy finishing fourth and fifth, ahead of Matt Hanson’s Pro Buggy entry in sixth.
That said, the biggest surprise of the day came in the form of 16-year-old West Australian Logan Gill.
In his maiden AORC event, Gill was the first home of the SXS drivers in Section 1 alongside navigator Leigh Van Der Wall. He managed to edge out reigning AORC SXS champions Lachlan Bailey and Jordan Zollo by more than 30 seconds, while Lochlan Waters and Kevin Waters completed the top three for SXS.
Incredibly, the trio finished seventh, eighth and ninth outright at Pooncarie – an incredible feat for SXS machines.
“This is my first time here and I don’t know the track, but it was great. Pretty rough and very dusty,” said Gill, son of long-time AORC competitor Royce Gill.
“The track always changes and it’s not like you remember it, it means the whole track is pretty much the same for everyone. And that was good.”
For reigning SXS champion Bailey, the fast-degrading Pooncarie layout promises to test man and machinery when running gets back underway on Sunday morning.
Bailey says he will continue to play the long game across the weekend.
“I’m really happy with how we went today,” he said. “We just hit our marks and were really solid out there.
“We did exactly what we set out to do today: not push too hard that we break it. That will be the plan again tomorrow.”
Earlier in the day it was Dale Martin who stole the limelight in the Method Race Wheels Prologue, edging out Lehmann and Morgan-Horan in a tight battle at the front.
Brent Martin brought home fourth in the Prologue while Bailey put in a blistering performance to secure fifth outright and first of the SXS machines.
The Method Race Wheels Prologue proved disastrous for championship favourite Beau Robinson, who endured a suspected fuel line failure and failed to complete his run.
All the action of the 2026 Wentworth Shire Pooncarie Desert Dash resumes Sunday morning from 8.30am AEST. Section 2 will comprise three individual laps, each broken by a short service break for competitors to refuel and attend to their vehicles.
As always, stay up to date on the latest AORC news and live feed on the Motorsport Australia website, YouTube and social channels.
