Kris Turner, age 16, became the first winner of the inaugural WERA/Roadracingworld.com Young Gun award Thursday at the WERA Grand National Finals (GNF) at Road Atlanta. The award was presented using a completely objective set of criteria. The highest finishing rider in Thursday’s Sportsman C Superstock Expert race under the age of 19 who did not possess an AMA Pro road racing license won the award. Turner led the first lap on his Team M4 EMGO Suzuki GSX-R600, but on lap two he was passed by Butler Machinery’s Robert Jensen, who went on to win the race on his Yamaha YZF-R6. Turner then battled with Ray C’s Extreme’s Taylor Knapp. Eventually, 21-year-old Knapp passed Turner and inched away to a secure second-place finish on his Kawasaki ZX-6R. Turner crossed the line third, five seconds behind Jensen and six seconds ahead of Vesrah Suzuki’s Michael Barnes, who started the race from the eighth row of the grid. “I just tried to go out there and do the best I could,” said Turner. “There were a lot of fast riders. I was trying to hang with Rob [Jensen] there in the beginning. He started pulling me a little bit here and there. Then Taylor [Knapp] got by me, and my brakes started fading–we were using stock pads. That forced me to make a hairy pass on him. That scared me, and I’m sure it scared him, too, a little bit. I’m just really happy to win this award. It’s a great thing. I’d like to thank Roadracingworld.com and WERA for putting it on.” The 23-rider C Superstock field included several strong candidates. In addition to Turner, 2008 AMA Sports Horizon Award winner Christopher Clark and young dirt-tracker-turned-road-racer James Rispoli were among those eligible for the award. Clark finished 11th, and Rispoli was 16th. Elena Myers and Russ Wikle, two talented young riders who are at Road Atlanta to race in other classes, were not eligible to compete in the C Superstock race because they had not earned enough points in that class in their respective regions, according to WERA officials. The new award was thought up and announced too late for either rider to earn additional points before the GNF.