With the second segment of the EKN Driver Rankings comes the release of the newest TaG standings. If there is one thing that we have learned while calculating the rankings throughout the year, it’s that you never know just who will rise to the top at any given time. With a full schedule contested during the month of April, one that saw the WKA, SKUSA, USPKS and many other programs holding events, a handful of races were added to the calculations and some key results were removed as the 12-month sliding timeline was adjusted. Some big scores were dropped off the overall point totals of a few leading drivers, especially those who have not raced much, if at all, thus far in 2013. This shook up the standings. All of those factors equated to a new number one driver – Louie Pagano.

The 18-year old Birel pilot is now among the ‘veterans’ in the category, competing in his fourth season at the Senior level. Two top-five finishes at the recent Superkarts! USA Pro Tour SpringNationals improved his score significantly and bested the rest of the competition to take over the top spot for the first time ever. Due to the fact that all of Pagano’s results come from November 2012 to now, it may be some time before anyone can better his point total. Moving up to second is 2012 US Rotax Grand Nationals winner Daniel Formal (Tony Kart). A solid Florida Winter Tour campaign with five top-five finishes in six races started the 2013 season off in the right direction. Third in the order now is another former #1 – Sam Beasley (Tony Kart). The now Ocala Gran Prix driver scored a number of wins in the 2012 season in WKA competition, including a runner-up to Formal at the Rotax Grand Nationals, with KartSport North America.

Moving down to fourth is the most recent #1 driver – Phil DeLaO. The Arizona native is the replacement for Beasley at KSNA, piloting an Arrow this season. The loss of his two SpringNationals victories at PKRA from last year resulted in his overall total dropping about 61 points and, in the end, four positions. 2011 United States Rotax champion Nick Neri (Tony Kart) completes the top-five. The Florida driver had a good winter season as well, matching Formal’s numbers with five top-five finishes at the Florida Winter Tour.

Mason Chelootz falls from second down to sixth in this month’s calculations, due to dropping some victories from WKA competition last year. The Top Kart USA driver has been quick this year, but has been simply unable to find his way to the front as often as he did in 2012. Up to seventh is Jake Craig, as the SoCal driver celebrated his second-straight win in the California ProKart Challenge, scoring at Adams. The win came off a move to the new ART GP America operation, which found success with EKN April 2013 Driver of the Month Andrew Zimmer, claiming both victories at the SpringNationals. Eighth is Andrew Palmer, the 2012 US Rotax Grand Nationals runner-up. The J3 Competition driver had an up-and-down campaign in the Rotax Challenge of the Americas program, but will be among the contenders at this year’s Rotax championships. Tommy Andersen (Top Kart) jumps back into the top-20, gaining about 20 points from last month’s total, while Top Kart USA teammate Chris Wehrheim dropped to tenth.

TaG

TaG Driver Rankings Top-10

Louie Pagano
(Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

NEW TaG #1 – Louie Pagano
Camarillo, California

After months of hovering inside the top-10, this time it’s Pagano’s turn at the top of the standings. The DPK/MRP Motorsport Birel driver is among the top pilots in the country, backed up by his runner-up finishes at the SKUSA SuperNationals and Rotax Pan-American Championship events. Pagano was a championship contender this winter at the Rotax Challenge of the Americas, scoring four straight podium finishes until the streak ended at the season finale, placing second in the final point standings to Phil Arscott. There is an odd downside to him becoming number one, as his focus on-track is now turning towards building up his stock car resume, as he will be campaigning the Truck series at the Irwindale Speedway. We don’t expect to see a great deal of Pagano in 2013, other than at the SKUSA SummerNationals and season-ending SuperNationals in Las Vegas. Talk about going out in style.

Point Breakdown

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Derek Dignan
(Photo: NCRM)

TaG ‘On the Move’ – Derek Dignan – 32nd
Rochester Hills, Michigan

Derek Dignan has become one of the drivers to watch during his rise up the order in the TaG category. The Senior rookie for KartSport North America jumped into the top-50 this month, and is now classified 32nd after opening up the season in 122nd. The 16-year old picked up his first two TaG wins at the WKA Manufacturers Cup Series event in Kershaw, SC last month, and he will going looking for more wins this month when the series travels to New Castle. Dignan had a busy month of April, traveling out west for his first SKUSA SpringNationals, where he scored a best results of 16th at an unfamiliar track, and he was a top qualifier at the United States Pro Kart Series opener at Mooresville after switching over to the FA Kart for KSNA.

Point Breakdown

EKN Driver Rankings Calculation Process
The EKN Driver Rankings are calculated using a driver’s best finishes in major North American races. Assembled using events from the previous 12 months from the current date, we use a driver’s best seven finishes in TaG and six in Stock Moto to determine their overall current point total. With each new release, results posted from more than one year ago are discarded. To deliver our ranking list, we tabulate the results of all the national programs and selected regional programs. We have included the results for the major one-off events such as the SKUSA SuperNationals, the US Rotax Max Challenge Grand Nationals, the Rock Island Grand Prix and the Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix.

Each race is initially weighted based on the prestige and history of the event or series with a score of ten (10) being the highest attainable base ranking. For 2013, the SKUSA SuperNationals and US Rotax Max Challenge Grand Nationals receive a score of 10 in their initial weighting in the TaG category while the SuperNationals is the lone event in the Stock Moto division. The SKUSA Pro Tour series events draw a base ranking of nine (9), while the WKA Manufacturers Cup, Florida Winter Tour, Rotax Challenge of the Americas, IKF 2-Cycle Sprint Grand Nationals, Rotax Pan American Challenge, United States Pro Kart Series and other regional program races were given a base ranking of either eight (8) or nine (9).

The EKN staff reserves the right to adjust the rankings of each event throughout the year. A minimum entry total for any events considered for the Driver Rankings program is five (5). If an event does not have at least five (5) drivers starting the race, those results will not be tabulated toward the Driver Rankings.

Added to these initial rankings are two variables that help confirm the true importance of an event to the ranking process – field size and field strength. A percentage of one weighting point is added for the size of the field, while the number of existing top 50 drivers entered offers another full point or fraction of a point. The sum of these numbers becomes the overall ranking for any race. Following a race, drivers receive points based on their finishing positions with 100 points earned for a win. Each subsequent position drops by one point with 99 points given to the second place driver and so on throughout the field. These points are then multiplied by the overall ranking to produce a driver’s final point total from each event. Using a driver’s best seven races in TaG, six for Stock Moto, we calculate each driver’s overall score and subsequent ranking.

TaG – as of May 6, 2013