One of the more popular and original editorial programs is the eKartingNews.com Driver Rankings. The purpose is to provide and promote the best in the sport, currently competing in TaG (TaG) and Stock Moto categories across North America. EKN is happy to announce the events confirmed for the separate Driver Rankings for the 2016 season with the goal to highlight the top drivers over the course of 12 months.

The focus of the rankings has evolved over the years with the origins beginning in the pages of Shifter Kart Illustrated featuring a straight shifterkart program that targeted all the assorted gearbox classes before evolving to where Intercontinental C (ICC) and Intercontinental A (ICA) divisions became the only offerings. As such, the Driver Rankings have evolved with the sport itself here in the U.S. The program was moved from the magazine to eKartingNews.com full-time in 2007 and added the TaG category following the publication’s final issue in December of 2006. At the beginning of the 2007 season, the ICA division was shelved when it was dropped from the national circuit. When those drivers and a number of others made the move to TaG, it was clear that the class was primed to replace ICA in the ranking program. In 2009, ICC began the year as part of the program but it was also removed as the class was rapidly losing support across the continent. The Stock Moto category was then added as it was definitely growing in many parts of the nation. The most recent edition of the program evaluated just the TaG and Stock Moto divisions.

Billy Musgrave became the second driver to finish as the top driver in the Stock Moto rankings for a second time. Musgrave finished 2013 in the #1 spot and once again in 2015 ahead of the other two-time #1 driver Fritz Leesmann and veteran Ron White. Pennsylvania driver Brandon Jarsocrak finished 2015 at the top of the TaG Driver Rankings after a stellar season, besting 2014 SKUSA Pro Tour champion Jake Craig and 2013 US Rotax Grand Nationals winner Oliver Askew.

The TaG portion of the Driver Rankings has expanded to 161 total races included in the 2016 program. A number of new series have been added, including a number of US Rotax Max Challenge traveling series, the Rok Cup USA program and other IAME Senior and TaG Senior events throughout the year. The Stock Moto is at 102 races for 2016, welcoming the Challenge of the Americas, the new Colorado Karting Championship and the Texas Sprint Racing Series. The first release of the 2015 EKN Driver Rankings for both TaG and Stock Moto is slated to publish in at the beginning of April.

2016 EKN Driver Rankings Schedule – TaG

2016 EKN Driver Rankings Schedule – Stock Moto

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 2016, the SKUSA Pro Tour 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. A base ranking of nine (9) goes to the United States Pro Kart Series, Florida Winter Tour Rotax Max Challenge, Challenge of the Americas, Rock Island Grand Prix and California ProKart Challenge. Other national and 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.

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