Wayne Poulier has finally broken his 2020 victory drought after taking out the Ipswich West Moreton Auto Club’s fifth Dirt Sprint round for the year.
With his last round victory in the series coming all the way back in November last year, it’s been an extremely long time coming for Poulier, who has finished second in every one of the club’s dirt sprints this year.
Heading into the round, Poulier was determined to break the duck and enjoyed the perfect start, posting the fastest time ahead of long-time rival Anthony Bonnici during the opening session’s four laps.
The battle continued into the second with Bonnici and now Alan Wienert providing a big challenge to Poulier as all three ended up within one second of each other; but it was Poulier who once again posted the fastest time.
As the day wore on and the 37 competitors continued to pile on the laps and improve on their times, Poulier kept notching up the outright fastest times ahead of Bonnici and Wienert, who were locked in a tussle of their own for second place.
In every other round this year, it’s been in the final session of the day where Poulier has lost the lead, but this round was different as the Subaru WRX driver broke the 43 second barrier and recorded a brilliant 43.38 on his second lap of the session.
While Bonnici also went sub 44 seconds and got to within half a second, Poulier would finally remain unbeaten as he secured the long awaited victory.
“It was an awesome feeling to finally get out of my bridesmaid dress and get the win. I don’t want to sell myself short, but my car was phenomenal,” Poulier said.
“The competition is always tight and there is always only a second between the top five. No one has been in the 43 for quite some time so I must have just done everything right because it really took something special to win.
“The problem is that in all four races, I have logged the fastest time in almost every session but often get pipped in the last lap of the last session. This time, I literally put my life on the line for that last lap and it proved to be enough.
“And it’s funny because everyone knew how close I had been in every round so they were all rooting for me to get the win. I didn’t actually know I had won until I drove past the control tower and they gave me the thumbs up. It was all relief then.
“Anthony is always great competition and a great guy. Coming second to him is never a problem but to finally beat him is a really good feeling.”
Behind the wheel of the only Mitsubishi in the field, Bonnici ultimately settled for second place ahead of Wienert, whose final time was more than one second slower than the runner-up.
The Ipswich West Moreton Car Club’s next dirt sprint will be on 15 November at its home course in Willowbank.