SKUSA Pro Tour S1 championship leader Daniel Formal is now the #1 in the EKN Driver Rankings (Photo: EKN)

We are now two-thirds of the way complete in the 2016 season for the eKartingNews.com Stock Moto Driver Rankings. Roughly 30 events remain on the calendar, contributing to driver’s results for the 12-month ranking program, featuring the best six results. Two of the three major events on the year are complete, with the SKUSA SpringNationals and SummerNationals into the books. Regional events are all that remain, gearing up for the big finish with the 20th SKUSA SuperNationals.

The driver set to defend his triumphant victory last November in Las Vegas is the new #1 holder. DRT Racing / DR Kart pilot Daniel Formal has taken over the top spot, now completing six events over the past 12 months. The current SKUSA Pro Tour championship leader now has more reasons to defend his SuperNats crown, with a chance at over $16,000 in cash and prizes should he cross the line first on SuperSunday. Formal has moved Billy Musgrave (MRC / Praga) off the top position. The two-time California ProKart Challenge champion was unable to duplicate his first Pro Tour victory from 2015 at New Castle, losing a few points in his total and dropping to P2. The SummerNationals was up and down for Texas driver Jake French (DKC / SodiKart), placing on the podium Sunday after a DNF hurt his chances at improving his Driver Rankings score even more.

The top S2 driver continues to be Austin Wilkins. The current SKUSA Pro Tour point leader added his second victory on the year in New Castle, helping to move the DKC / SodiKart pilot up to fourth in the Driver Rankings. Wilkins has not let down since his runner-up performance at the SuperNationals last year, and is in line to contend for the race victory and 2016 championship. Down to fifth is S1 driver Kolton Griffin (Pure Karting / Tony Kart). The Arizona driver did not return to the podium in New Castle as he had a year before, losing valuable points in the Driver Rankings and not helping his championship cause. Griffin was not at the SuperNationals last year, so should he compete this November will be all positive points in his favor.

Jumping into the top-10 is last month’s ‘On the Move’ Nick Neri. The Champion Racing / Intrepid driver came just one spot short of the podium Saturday and slipped down the order Sunday. Both results were enough to elevate his position in the Driver Rankings, now sitting sixth. The same for Checkered Motorsports / PCR pilot Robert Bujdoso. After flirting with the podium in Phoenix, the former multi-time WKA champ reached the top-10 just on Saturday.

Dropping to eighth is VRP Racing / Tony Kart driver Jacob Neal, who was absent at the SummerNationals. Down to ninth is Champion Racing / Intrepid pilot Jarred Campbell. The NorCal native scored his best finish on the Pro Tour this year, finishing sixth on Saturday. Campbell remains in contention to defend his 2015 title in the California ProKart Challenge with two events remaining. Tenth is the second S2 driver inside the top-10, and this month’s ‘On the Move’ driver Kyle Wick (RPG / Kosmic).

Ron White, Carter Williams and Hunter Pickett have fallen outside the top-10. White and Williams were not at New Castle for the SummerNationals, as we believe both will be back in the driver’s seat for the SuperNationals. Pickett (Muscle Milk Racing / Aluminos) recorded his first S2 victory on the Pro Tour Sunday after contact ended his podium run Saturday. He lost two top-five finishes from last year, including his first Pro Tour podium in Sunday’s main event.

Upcoming EKN Stock Moto Driver Rankings Events

NEW Stock Moto #1 – Daniel Formal
San Jose, Costa Rica

(Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

There is no question the top Stock Moto driver from the past 12 months is Daniel Formal. A four-time Rotax Grand Nationals champion, former podium finisher at the SuperNationals, Formal was unstoppable in his DRT Racing / DR Kart at the SuperNationals in 2015 to sweep the entire event. It was a performance unlike any other. Add in now three-straight runner-up finishes on the Pro Tour and he is your current championship leader going into November. Thanks to a victory at the F-Series last September, Formal has six events counting toward the Driver Rankings. Should he not return back to the United States until the SuperNats, he will lose that sixth race and fall down the order to somewhere outside the top-20. More important things will be on the mind of Formal from now until November, mainly the chance at the over $16,000 in cash and prizes for defending his SuperNats crown and becoming the 2016 SKUSA Pro Tour S1 champion.

Point Breakdown

**************************************

Stock Moto #2 – Billy Musgrave
Norco, California

(Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

Since the end of last year, Billy Musgrave has held onto the top position in the EKN Driver Rankings. Since he bolted onto the national scene with his dominating performance in the S2 victory at the 2012 SuperNationals, Musgrave has been a S1 contender. A two-time California ProKart Challenge champion, he landed his first Pro Tour victory last year at the SummerNationals. It was expected to see him battle for the podium positions once again after scoring victory in Phoenix, however, the best result was an eighth place finish. Two more races at the California PKC to secure a third title in four years is on the horizon with the hopes of performing at the SuperNationals like he did just four years ago.

Point Breakdown

**************************************

Stock Moto #3 – Jake French
Sachse, Texas

(Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

Like we have seen with Formal, it has been a progression from the youngest age group to the pinnacle of North American karting for Jake French. A Mini Max Grand National champion in 2007, French has continued to grow as a driver. French was among the original drivers to begin the SKUSA Stock Moto ladder system, competing in the S5 Junior division. Now finding a home at the Dallas Karting Complex, French has been a vital piece of the puzzle for the success of the SodiKart brand here in North America. The SpringNationals was his first podium since moving to S1 in 2012, matching the third-place result in New Castle to make him a championship contender heading into Las Vegas.

Point Breakdown

**************************************

Stock Moto ‘On the Move’ – #10
Kyle Wick
Aubrun, Washington

(Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

Among those moving up the EKN Driver Rankings order is Rolison Performance Group driver Kyle Wick. The 16-year-old began the transition from TaG Junior to Stock Moto last year, competing at the Can-Am ProKart Challenge. Wick made his S2 national debut at the SuperNationals, recording a top-20 finish. The Kosmic driver began the 2016 season with victory at the second stop of the California ProKart Challenge, following it up with his first podium on the SKUSA Pro Tour at the SpringNationals with a runner-up on Sunday. Wick traveled to New Castle as the S2 championship leader. While the weekend did not go as planned, he continued to show determination and speed. He came back from an incident in Heat #1 to record a 10th place finish and getting shuffled back outside the top-20 Sunday. Wick now sits third in the title chase, looking to end the year on the championship podium.

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 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.

EKN Stock Moto Driver Rankings – as of August 5, 2016