Jake Craig (Photo: Ken Johnson - Studio52.us)

Throughout the period of the eKartingNews.com Driver Rankings, opinion have varied on whether the numbers support who truly are the best drivers in the country. Since July 1, some of the biggest events of the season took place in the TaG categories, including the Cold Stone US Grand Nationals and the Superkarts! USA SummerNationals. One driver that has stood out during that time, along with the last eight months of the year is Jake Craig, the new driver into the number one position of the EKN TaG Driver Rankings.

Craig (2Wild Karting) fell just three points short of the Rotax Challenge of the Americas title this April, earning three of the six race wins. The next month, the SoCal driver opened up the Pro Tour with two wins in Dallas, and then stamped it with the exclamation point by earning the Rotax national championship in Utah. Two more podium finishes at the SummerNationals keep him atop the point standings, giving him the ability to earn two major titles in the same season. Demoted to second is last year’s US Rotax champion Oliver Askew. After just a few days in Utah, Askew re-aggravated a back muscle injury, which forced him to withdraw from the event. With his focus now on the Stock Moto side, he may not be able to challenge Craig for the top position moving forward.

Advancing to the third position is the current ‘Ironman’ of karting – Dustin Stross. With 40 rounds of racing in the last 12 months, the percentages were in his favor to move up the order. Racing at WKA, USPKS, and SKUSA competitions, the privateer could move closer to Craig as the season draws to an end with strong performances at the series finales of all three. 2013 United States Pro Kart Series champion Kyle Kalish keeps moving up the order as the series continues to grow. Despite not finishing inside the top-three in the first six rounds of racing, the Franklin Motorsports/Merlin driver has used consistent finishes to keep him advancing in the Driver Rankings, and maintain contention to defend his crown. Dropping to fifth is two-time USPKS winner Roger Ralston Jr. (KartSport North America/FA Kart). Since his double win weekend in Mooresville, it has been a challenging season.

Down one position to sixth is Superkarts! USA Pro Tour championship contender Louie Pagano. The Dallas Karting Complex/Sodi Kart USA driver was among the quickest at the SpringNationals, but could only record a best finish of sixth at the SummerNationals. The quickest driver in qualifying at the US Rotax Grand Nationals, Pagano was taken out of contention in the main event after contact, as he is still looking for that elusive Senior victory of his career. AJ Myers – USPKS point leader entering the series finale – remains seventh. Better results in the last three rounds of racing have propelled the Checkered Motorsports/PCR driver into the hunt for a top-five in the EKN Driver Rankings.

Michigan’s Derek Dignan (KartSport North America/FA Kart) falls four spots to the eighth position, still battling to find consistent results at the USPKS program despite battling for top-five finish in the championship standings. Up to ninth after recording his seventh race toward the Driver Rankings is Florida driver Kyle Kirkwood. The Ocala Gran Prix/Tony Kart driver was the vice-champion at the Florida Winter Tour, and is currently the top rookie in the EKN standings thanks to a ninth place result at the US Rotax Grand Nationals. Breaking into the top-10 is Senior Max runner-up Daniel Roeper. The Florida driver had a solid winter, and never gave up the fight during the week event in Utah, ending up on the second step of the podium and earning his first ticket to the Rotax Grand Finals as part of Team USA.

Jake Craig (Photo: Ken Johnson – Studio52.us)

NEW TaG #1 – Jake Craig
Mission Viejo, California

The 2014 resume that Jake Craig has accumulated is outstanding. The first months of the year saw the 2Wild Karting/Tony Kart driver stand on five podiums in six races at the Rotax Challenge of the Americas, which included three wins. He has followed that up with four straight podium results at the Superkarts! USA Pro Tour, including a double-win weekend at the Dallas Karting Complex. The icing on the cake so far is his first national crown at the United States Rotax Max Challenge Grand Nationals last month. Craig entered last weekend as the championship leader in the Rotax Can-Am ProKart Challenge, which is the title he won last year to earn his Team USA ticket in 2013.

Point Breakdown

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Blaine Rocha (Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

TaG ‘On the Move’ – #11
Blaine Rocha
Oakdale, California

While he is only the second best Senior rookie thus far in the EKN Driver Rankings standings, Blaine Rocha scored his first victory at the recent Modesto Grand Prix. Racing just 20 miles away from his hometown, Rocha was excited at the opportunity to race in front of his family and friends. Blaine was the quickest driver in practice, but it wasn’t until the final checkered flag on Sunday that the young driver earned his stripes with the victory. Momentum was on his side, as he battled a terrible illness during the Cold Stone US Grand Nationals just two weeks prior, needing IV fluids to keep hydrated for competition. The 16-year old kept fighting to the end, placing fifth and end up as the top rookie in a very stacked field of drivers.

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, the Lone Star 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 2014, 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), as does the United States Pro Kart Series, Florida Winter Tour Rotax Max Challenge, Rotax Challenge of the Americas, Rotax Pan American Challenge. Other regional program races were given a base ranking of either 8.5 or 8.

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 Driver Rankings – as of August 15, 2014

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