The Motorsport Australia Awards season has begun with Western Australia being the first state to recognise its 2019 winners and individual award recipients at Crown Perth.

From Motorsport Australia WA Rally Championship winners John O’Dowd and Toni Feaver, to Marcel Every who won the Motorsport Australia WA State Speed Series, the evening celebrated the champions of 2019.

While each category’s champions got the opportunity to collect their awards and speak in front of their peers about the season that was – the event also rewarded those individuals and clubs who contributed to motorsport wholeheartedly during the year.

Headlining the list of individual award winners was David Smith, who was named as the 2019 Motorsport Australia Official of the Year.

Specialising in gravel and tarmac rallying, Smith was instrumental behind the scenes for a host of state rallying and tarmac events, most notably the Make Smoking History Targa West.

Youth was also celebrated with 16-year-old Sean Beck awarded with Junior Official of the Year honours after putting in countless of hours at the state’s off road events.

Beck wasn’t the only teenager to take centre stage during the evening, with Cameron Atkins taking out the Burson Auto Parts Future Star Award, after a stellar year in the WA Excel Cup where he finished third outright.

In just his first year in the series, Atkins managed to come away with a number of top five round results including an outright second at the cup’s sixth round. The 17-year-old also ended the season with the Rookie of the Year award.

The final individual award to be given during the evening was Event of the Year, and after a huge edition in 2019, which saw an increase in participation and exposure, the Make Smoking History Targa West was a fitting winner.

Taking place in August around the city of Perth, the tarmac rally sees crews aim to post the fastest time on a range of closed road special stages. Outside of the thrilling action, the event has a number of activations allowing locals to enjoy the event as a spectacle.

Last year saw Peter Major win the three-day event for the sixth time in his career, after a thrilling battle between he and Peter Rullo by three seconds.

The next Motorsport Australia State Awards presented by Burson Auto Parts to take place will be Queensland and Victoria, with both states to run on Friday 7 February.

More to come.