The 2013 season has now been completed, and therefore, so has this year’s eKartingNews.com Constructors Championship. Held in November, the Superkarts! USA SuperNationals XVII was the last event to be included in this year’s EKN CC calculations. A total of 23 events were selected on the season to take part in the EKN CC program, including a mix of national and regional events, as well as two key street races. It was a very diverse season once again, with a number of brands earning top-five finishes during the season, but when the final standings were calculated, Tony Kart had secured its third straight EKN Constructors Championship.

The OTK brand was one of the more popular throughout the 2013 season, and the data shows it was one of the most successful chassis of the year as well. The area in which Tony Kart gained the most points compared to its rivals was in the Rotax community, as it excelled at the United States Rotax Grand Nationals and the Rotax Pan-American Challenge. There, Tony Kart earned over 50% of the points available on the strength of  numerous victories and podium finishes. If you were to take those points away, however, Tony Kart would still be the top brand in the standings, earning points at every event in the 2013 EKN CC schedule.

Finishing in the runner-up position for a second straight year was  CRG. Similar to last year, 70% of their points came from the SKUSA Pro Tour events, scoring the highest weekend point total of the year at the SpringNationals (184 points – 34% of their total).  Behind CRG, Top Kart completed the season-ending podium.  The brand jumped up late in the season, earning nearly all of its points in the WKA Manufacturers Cup Series – winning the WKA Manufacturer Trophy for a second straight year. The Arrow brand was a close fourth, scoring points in all but the Rotax Pan-American Challenge event. Ending up fifth was Birel, which showed well throughout the season despite a limited number of drivers in the Senior and Junior ranks.

The season ended with the SKUSA SuperNationals in Las Vegas. Tony Kart cemented its position as this year’s high-point chassis as it took the top honors with 100 counters on SuperSunday. The majority of the points came in the Junior ranks, as Ocala Gran Prix’s Kyle Kirkwood was the only Tony Kart driver to earn a victory – winning S5 – although a total of four drivers were on the podium in S5 and TaG Junior. Placing second in Vegas was CRG, thanks to victory by CRG-USA driver Joey Wimsett in S1. Ending up third for the event was the new Aluminos chassis, which scored its first SuperNats victory thanks to Kiwi driver Matthew Hamilton in S4.

Below is a breakdown on the top three for each series or area of the EKN Constructors Championship for 2013.

Wimsett drove to the S1 SuperNationals victory, clinching the season championship (Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

SKUSA Pro Tour
1. CRG
2. Tony Kart
3. Arrow

The five rounds of the SKUSA Pro Tour is split between four shifterkart categories and four TaG divisions. The SKUSA series saw the highest number of brands (21) scoring points on the year. The CRG line, one of the top in the shifterkart ranks, proved it by scoring the most points throughout the 2013 SKUSA season, including the S1 and S2 championships with CRG-USA courtesy of Joey Wimsett and Christian Schureman. On the flipside, Tony Kart was right there throughout the season, spread among all the categories to end up second in the series. Arrow ended up third, riding on the performances of the KartSport North America TaG drivers, including TaG Master champion Scott Falcone.

The ‘Winning Celebration’ was a familiar pose for Top Kart in WKA action (Photo: NCRM)

WKA Manufacturers Cup Series
1. Top Kart
2. Arrow
3. Birel

The majority of Top Kart’s total in 2013 came via the WKA Manufacturers Cup Series.  The Top Kart USA operation helped guide its drivers to four championships and 38 feature wins on the season, also winning the Manufacturer Championship trophy for a second straight year. KartSport North America helped to guide Arrow to second in the series, with MRP Motorsport/Birel America drivers earning the third highest points at WKA.

Rotax Max Challenge
1. Tony Kart
2. Praga
3. CRG

The area in which Tony Kart gained a vast amount of their point advantage in the standings was the US Rotax Grand Nationals and the Pan-American Challenge. Scoring 204 points more than the next brand over the two events, Tony Kart was the most successful chassis in Rotax competition. The Praga brand, thanks to a good amount of points from the Pan-Am event, was second, while the CRG DD2 drivers helped the brand earn third in the category.

Blaine Rocha scored four victories at the Challenge of the Americas program for Kosmic (Photo: SeanBuur.com)

Challenge of the Americas
1. Kosmic
2. Birel
3. Arrow

Kosmic was just a few points away from making the top-five overall, but they did come away as the top brand in the Challenge of the Americas program. The Rolison Performance Group team earned two championships through its drivers, including six victories from their two Junior Max drivers – title winner Blaine Rocha and runner-up Luke Selliken. Senior Max champion Phillip Arscott drove to three wins on the year while RPG teammate Parker McKean added a fourth. EKN TaG Driver Rankings #1 pilot Louie Pagano began the year on the Birel, helping the brand earn the second spot in the series, while Arrow took third, again thanks to the team success of Kartsport North America.

Oliver Askew won the US Rotax Grand Nationals and Pan-Am feature, two of many for Tony Kart on the year (Photo: Ken Johnson – Studio52.us)

Florida Winter Tour
1. Tony Kart
2. CRG
3. Birel

It was a sea of Tony Kart green throughout the 2013 edition of the Florida Winter Tour. Scoring more points than the combined total of second and third, Tony Kart gained five of the six victories in Senior Max, and another in Junior Max, along with numerous podium finishes. CRG racked up six total wins in DD2 and DD2 Masters thanks to those driving for PSL Karting, putting them second. Birel earned a number of podium finishes to end up third.

United States Pro Kart Series
1. Tony Kart
2. Top Kart
3. Arrow

The USPKS program was new for 2013, and is sure to see an increase in numbers for the upcoming season. While 14 different brands scored points throughout the inaugural year, it was Tony Kart that racked up the most markers. In four rounds, Tony Kart earned 111 points. Part of that was due to Yamaha Senior driver Joel Jens, who won five of the eight feature races, along with Ashley Rogero, who was twice victorious in Leopard Pro. Top Kart was second, thanks to the Top Kart USA duo of Zach Holden and Emerson Reed, who combined for seven wins on the season. Arrow picked up a couple wins from the KartSport North America drivers, earning the third spot in the series.

Gary Lawson returned to his throne at Rock Island, scoring four wins for Arrow (Photo: Joe Brittin)

RIGP/SOLGP
1. Arrow
2. CRG
3. Tony Kart

The two events that made up the ‘Miscellaneous Races’ category were the two of the biggest street races of the season – the Rock Island Grand Prix and the Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix. The Arrow brand came away with the top spot when combining the two programs together, based primarily on the four victories of the RIGP ‘Emperor’ Gary Lawson. They edged out CRG by just three points as Tony Kart was a close third, just nine points away from Arrow.

Inside the Numbers:

13
Number of brands over the 100-point mark

20
Number of brands scoring less than 100 points

33
Number of brands to score points

184
Highest event point total of the season – CRG (SKUSA Pro Tour SpringNationals)

EKN Constructors Championship Guidelines
The EKN Constructors Championship calculation process includes the top-five finishers in each recognized class (Senior-Master-Junior classes). The SKUSA Pro Tour, US Rotax Grand Nationals, and Pan American Challenge will earn points with the following structure; 1st=20 points, 2nd=16 points, 3rd=12 points, 4th=8 points, 5th=4 points. The remaining events will continue to be awarded with the previous ranking system; with first place earning five (5) points down to fifth place earning one (1) point for each category. There is a minimum of 10 starting entries for the class points to be counted toward the season total in the EKN CC standings.

EKN Constructors Championship – 2013 Final Standings

Share on Facebook

Tweet