(Photo: EKN)

The 2017 season is nearing the end, as is this year’s edition of the eKartingNews.com Stock Honda Driver Rankings powered by Bell Racing USA. As we have seen throughout the year, there has been one driver that has been in the mix at the Superkarts! USA Pro Tour, and has the ability to earn the highest score ever in Stock Honda standing history. Currently leading the standings is Texan Jake French. One of the first drivers to take advantage of the SKUSA ladder system (S5 – S2 – S1), the DKC / Sodi Kart driver has the strong advantage to finish the year in the #1 spot and earn that brand new Bell Helmet.

French’s total will be a new record thanks to the EKN Driver Rankings program expanding to include the best seven results for the Stock Honda category. Not only will it be one additional result included, French’s seven straight podiums is best over the last 12 months and could be improved on depending on his SuperNationals results. Chasing the 2017 SKUSA Pro Tour S1 champion is Billy Musgrave (MRC / Aluminos). Now a four-time California ProKart Challenge champion, Musgrave will carry the SKUSA #2 plate for a second time in his career in 2018. Musgrave has recorded at least one win on the SKUSA Pro Tour over the last three years. The 199-point gap to French can only be cut in to it by a victory or a big difference in their finishing positions on SuperSunday.

Moving up to third is the top S1 rookie in 2017 – Mathias Ramirez. The Andersen Racing / Birel ART driver saved the best for last, recording his first podium at the final round of the SKUSA Pro Tour. Ramirez, the SKUSA SuperNationals S2 winner in 2016, has the speed to contend in Las Vegas for the podium and the victory in a few weeks. Last year’s SKUSA Pro Tour S2 champion Austin Wilkins (DKC / Sodi Kart) held his spot in fourth, improving slightly from the SummerNationals. The improvement was not enough to stay as the top S1 rookie in the Driver Rankings, needing a strong finish at the SuperNats.

Dropping out of the top-three is WinterNationals winner Hunter Pickett (Aluminos). His score improved however, Pickett fell from third to fifth to put three S1 rookies into the top-five. The top S2 driver thus far are Kyle Wick (RPG / Kosmic) and Riley Dickinson (DKC / Sodi Kart). Wick improved his score to match that set by Dickinson, the 2017 SKUSA Pro Tour S2 champion. The two will not be going head-to-head, as Wick is making the move to S1 for the SuperNationals while Riley is staying in S2.

Brian Keck matches the advancement of Ramirez, moving 28 spots up to eighth on the Driver Rankings. Keck (CRG) had a best finish of sixth in his four starts on the SKUSA Pro Tour, placing fourth at the recent Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix to help boost his score. Dropping two spots to ninth is Hunter Kelly (Italcorse). The former SKUSA Pro Tour TaG Cadet champion (2012) has not shown the speed to contest for podiums like he did in S2, however, remains inside the top-10. Skyler Finley (DKC / Sodi Kart) jumped 19 positions to 10th. Finley finished the season third in the SKUSA Pro Tour S2 championship standings.

Dropping out of the top-10 is Matias Podboj (Mad-Croc), who scored his first California ProKart Challenge victory this year, veteran Ron White (CRG) and new California PKC S2 champion Jason Pettit (Aluminos).

Upcoming EKN Stock Honda Driver Rankings Schedule

Stock Moto #1 – Jake French
Sachse, Texas

(Photo: EKN)

It has been a near perfect season for Jake French. The Dallas Karting Complex / Sodi Kart driver has eight straight podium finishes at the SKUSA Pro Tour dating back to New Castle 2016. His third place finish at the SuperNationals last year really triggered his momentum into the 2017 season. Winning half of the races in 2017, French locked up SKUSA Pro Tour title and is now after his next item on the bucket list – a SuperNationals victory. French has yet to win in Las Vegas, losing one in 2008 in S5. It would be fitting to see him come away with the victory at SuperNationals 21 to close out a strong 2017 season.

Point Breakdown

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Stock Moto #2 – Billy Musgrave
Norco, California

(Photo: EKN)

The King of California – Billy Musgrave. Four titles in five years at the California ProKart Challenge along with the vice champion position at the SKUSA Pro Tour puts Musgrave as one of the top shifterkart drivers in the country. The MRC / Aluminos driver can set some blistering lap times at the different tracks on the schedule. At least one victory in the last three years of the SKUSA Pro Tour is unmatched. One difference from French to Musgrave, a SuperNationals victory. Musgrave blazed the field at the 2012 SuperNationals in S2. Quick early on at last year’s SuperNationals, Musgrave will need to maintain the speed into SuperSunday for a chance to end 2017 as the #1.

Point Breakdown

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Stock Moto #3 – Mathias Ramirez
Bradenton, California

(Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

2015 in Portugal, Mathias Ramirez stood on the podium at the Rotax Grand Finals in the second position. From that moment, he was targeted as a rising star in the sport. Ramirez – racing under the Andersen Racing / Birel ART banner – made a return to the Stock Honda last year, with a successful year of S5 Junior under his belt in 2014. His return was at the SuperNationals, dominating the final to earn the victory. Now into the S1 division, Ramriez has ended the season as the top rookie in the category, poised to battle for a podium at the SuperNationals and end the year as one of the top drivers in the country.

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 Stock Honda 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 2017, the SKUSA SuperNationals will receive a score of 10 in its initial weighting in the TaG and Stock Honda categories. A base ranking of 9.5 is set for the US Rotax Max Challenge Grand Nationals and the SKUSA Pro Tour, while a base ranking of 9 goes to the United States Pro Kart Series, Florida Winter Tour Rotax Max Challenge and Rok Cup, 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 8.0.

The EKN staff reserves the right to adjust the rankings of each event throughout the year. A minimum entry total for any event to be 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, we calculate each driver’s overall score and subsequent ranking.

EKN Driver Rankings Powered by Bell Racing USA – Stock Honda – as of October 27, 2017