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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Mike Kable Young Gun Award
The Mike Kable Young Gun Award (also called the Mike Kable Rookie of the Year) is an annual motor racing award honouring the achievements of a rookie driver under the age of 30 who competes in either the Supercars Championship, the second-tier Super2 Series or the third-tier Super3 Series. Tony Cochrane, the chairman of the championship's organising body Australian Vee Eight Supercar Company (AVESCO), instigated the accolade in June 2000. It is named after Mike Kable, an Australian motoring journalist, motorsport publicist, and mentor to young racing drivers. The award is presented to the rookie driver adjudged to have performed the best over the course of their first season in either championship following a vote by a panel of motorsport experts. The recipient receives a sponsorship grant of A$15,000 to help develop themselves. The winner is announced at the series' end-of-season gala in Sydney.

The inaugural winner was Matthew White in 2000. The following year, the Stone Brothers Racing driver Marcos Ambrose won the award. Ambrose, James Courtney, Rick Kelly, Scott McLaughlin and Mark Winterbottom are the five recipients who have gone on to win either the Supercars Championship and/or the Bathurst 1000 in their careers. Australian drivers have won 21 times and New Zealanders twice. No one has won more than once; drivers from the second-tier championship have been honoured 14 times and Supercars competitors have won on 7 occasions. The 2023 recipient was Cameron McLeod, who finished in third place in the Super3 Series drivers' standings.

Winners

Mike Kable Young Gun Award winners
Year Image Winner Nationality Series Ref.
2000 Matthew White  Australian Konica V8 Lites Series
2001 A man in his early thirties wearing black rectangular sunglasses and racing overalls with sponsors logos. He is smiling at the camera Marcos Ambrose  Australian V8 Supercars
2002 A clean shaven man in his late thirties wearing a green, black and red zip T-shirt with sponsors logos Rick Kelly  Australian
2003 A man in his mid-30 smiling away from the camera. He is wearing a white fireproof vest with sponsors logos. Mark Winterbottom  Australian Konica V8 Supercar Series
2004 Warren Luff  Australian V8 Supercars
2005 A clean shaven man in his mid-thirties wearing an unbuttoned shirt looking to the left of the camera Grant Denyer  Australian HPDC V8 Supercar Series
2006 A man in his early twenties standing in a pit lane and smiling at the camera. He is holding a crash helmet in a yellow, dark green and white colour scheme in his right arm. James Courtney  Australian V8 Supercars
2007 A man in his early thirties wearing black rectangular sunglasses and a black T-shirt Dale Wood  Australian Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series
2008 A man in his mid-twenties wearing a white fireproof vest and has one earphone in his right ear which his right hand is clutch over Karl Reindler  Australian
2009 A man in his late twenties wearing a white T-shirt with a red collar and he has retangular sunglasses on the top of the hair on his head James Moffat  Australian
2010 A man in his late twenties wearing a black T-shirt with sponsors logos and a blue and white baseball cap on his head. He is looking to the right and is holding a black pen in his right hand Tim Blanchard  Australian
2011 A man in his late twenties wearing a baseball cap the opposite way and a blue and white T-shirt. He is holding a black microphone in his right hand and is speaking to the press Chaz Mostert  Australian
2012 A man in his early twenties looking to someone outside the camera. He is wearing a black T-shirt with sponsors logos and his holding both his hands together/ Scott Pye  Australian Dunlop V8 Supercar Series
2013 A teenaged man wearing red racing overalls with sponsors logos is smiling at the camera Scott McLaughlin  New Zealander V8 Supercars
2014 A man in his early twenties wearing a white fireproof balaclava around most of his head and dark red, blue and white racing overalls. He is putting on his helmet and HANS device. Todd Hazelwood  Australian Dunlop V8 Supercar Series
2015 Ashley Walsh  Australian V8 Supercars
2016 A man in his early twenties wearing a black baseball on the opposite way and T-shirt with sponsors logos. Cameron Waters  Australian
2017 Will Brown  Australian Super2 Series
2018 Thomas Randle  Australian
2019 A teenaged man wearing a mustard hoodie standing next to a red and white racing car numbered 7 to the right of the picture Tyler Everingham  Australian
2020
Not awarded
2021 A male in his mid-20s in racing overalls sporting long hair with a yellow sponsored baseball cap on his head celebrating with a bottle of champagne in his right hand Matt McLean  Australian Super2 Series
2022 Matthew Payne  New Zealander Super2 Series
2023 — Cameron McLeod  Australian Super3 Series

Statistics

See also