New South Wales rider Cru Halliday has been announced as the Kirk McCarthy Memorial Award winner for 2009. Halliday, from Camden in NSW, finished third in the 2009 Australian Superstock 600 Championship in his first season of Road Racing after previously riding Motocross and Supermoto in both Australia and the USA. The 21 year-old rider was presented with the perpetual trophy at the final round of the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), which was held at Phillip Island in late November. The Kirk McCarthy Memorial Award is a rider assistance program named in honour of Kirk McCarthy, who passed away in 2004 following a distinguished national and international racing career which included stints in both the 500cc GP and Superbike World Championships, as well as being crowned Australian Superbike Champion in 1995. The perpetual award was established by the McCarthy family, in conjunction with Motorcycling Australia and industry partners, to provide an annual recipient with both financial and product support to contest the ASBK. This support will arrive in the form of products such as tyres, tyre warmers and bike graphics, personal mentoring by Marty Craggill and Troy Corser, as well as financial aid to assist with travel and other related costs for competing in each ASBK Championship round. Previous winners of the Kirk McCarthy Memorial Award have been Chas Hearn (2008), Mitchell Carr (2007), Ian Andrews (2006) and Shannon Etheridge (2005).