Having never given up on reaching this milestone since joining the class in 2011, the 36-year-old racer was equally as relieved as he was excited to greet the chequered flag as the winner aboard his NSW # 56 Cameron Place Self Storage - Orange supported TCR machine.

Following a seventh-place finish in his opening heat race, Gray managed to regain his composure to win his second heat race (his first win of any kind in four years), giving him the confidence he needed for the 20-lap feature race, which saw him start from pole position, due to the top-six point scorers being inverted.

Getting underway after a full initial restart, Gray was in great form, navigating lapped traffic and leading the feature race from start to finish to take the victory by a quarter of a lap over his nearest rival.

“It’s been a long time coming but we stuck at it and I couldn’t have been happier to score our maiden feature-race win,” expressed Gray, who has been plagued with engine woes in recent seasons and managed to overcome them in his fifth meeting of this current season.

“One of the most satisfying things about the win was being able to do it for mum and dad (Chris and David), after all of the amazing support they’ve given me throughout the years, but it was just a shame that they weren’t able to be there on the night.”

Residing in Orange, Gray has an extensive speedway background, having raced Honda Odysseys, a class that ran at Nepean Raceway, for four years as a teenager. Taking an extended break from racing, Gray returned in 2010, purchasing a Super Modified and running the demonstration class for a year. Having caught the speedway bug again, he then moved into Wingless Sprints in 2011 and has been running the same car ever since.

With around 30 race meetings under his belt, previously highlighted by a second-place finish to local Mark Blyton at Dubbo’s Morris Park Speedway, it’s been a difficult ride for Gray, but his perseverance has allowed him to gain more experience and learn as much as he can, paving the way for Saturday night’s breakthrough victory.

For his next appearance, Gray will this Saturday night travel down to Sydney’s Valvoline Raceway.

Gray would like to thank the following 2016-17 season sponsors for their support: Cameron Place Self Storage - Orange (Chris and David Gray) and Precision Air Services (Gavin and Rebecca Ohlback). He would also like to give special thanks to his mum and dad (Chris and David), Dylan Sansom, along with all of his family and friends.