(Photo: EKN)

A total of 23 main events counting toward the eKartingNews.com Shifterkart Driver Rankings Powered by Bell Racing USA are scheduled for the month of June. A number of them were happening over the final weekend as we look to what will be a busy July. The opportunities were there, but with no event above 8.5 on the calendar, not much has changed at the top of the Driver Rankings.

The 2018 SKUSA Pro Tour champion AJ Myers has the bar set for the Driver Rankings as the only driver above the 7000 mark, giving him a 220-point advantage over CRG Nordam teammate Kyle Wick. Five-time California ProKart Challenge champion Billy Musgrave (MRC / Croc Promotion) remains in the third position. Mathias Ramirez (PSL / Birel ART) was unable to improve his score in the fourth spot despite placing runner-up at the ROK Cup USA Festival in Biloxi. Hunter Pickett (GFC) completes the top-five halfway through the 2019 season.

Andrew Bujdoso has a few races under his belt aboard the Solo Kart, racing again under the family-owned Checkered Motorsports. His score however remains unchanged along with Ron White (RWR / CRG), Max Hewitt (CRG Nordam), Prescott Campbell (MRC / Aluminos) and Rory van der Steur (MRC / Tony Kart). Those that did improve their scores in the month of June include Callum Smith (FW / CompKart) at the California Rok Championship event, scoring victory in Willow Springs. Daniel Formal (LEM / Formula K) won the Battle at the Beach in Mississippi in the Shifter Rok Senior class, bringing his 12-month race total to six and up to 27th in the Driver Rankings.

The Great Lakes ProKart Challenge this weekend at Road America will close out June, along with Los Angeles Karting Championship Round Five. Those races will help the totals for drivers on the top-50 fringe with 21 main events to be counted toward the eKartingNews.com Shifterkart Driver Rankings Powered by Bell Racing USA through the month of July before we reach the SKUSA Pro Tour SummerNationals in August.

Upcoming EKN TaG Driver Rankings Schedule

Shifterkart #1 – AJ Myers
Tampa, Florida

(Photo: EKN)

Only one driver in the 10-year history of the SKUSA Pro Tour have been able to score multiple titles in the headline shifterkart division. Myers has the opportunity to become the second next to Fritz Leesmann, and the first to win back-to-back championships. Myers did not miss a beat in his CRG Nordam debut in May at the SpringNationals, and is really focused on the upcoming SummerNationals. While he has won at New Castle three of the four last main events in SKUSA competition, the new track layout will ether help or hurt his chances at adding to the total, and reclaiming the crown.

Point Breakdown

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Shifterkart #2 – Kyle Wick
Auburn, Washington

(Photo: EKN)

It seems like every weekend, Kyle Wick is aboard a kart racing something. One of the younger drivers in the Pro category, Wick remains active and gaining more experience with every week passing. The CRG Nordam drivers scored his first SKUSA victory last year, however, remains winless after the first four rounds of the SKUSA Pro Tour in 2019. While he sits third in the championship chase, the gap is only 25 points out of first in what may be the tightest title fight in the headline shifterkart division in SKUSA history. Wick needs to build on the three top-five finishes, including two third-place results in New Castle.

Point Breakdown

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Shifterkart #3 – Billy Musgrave
Norco, California

(Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

Redemption remains on the mind of Musgrave in 2019. The recent guest on the latest episode of the Hot Seat on the EKN Radio Network, it is the SKUSA Pro Tour title that remains void on the trophy mantle inside MRC. The five-time California ProKart Challenge champion and three-time SuperNationals winner has not skipped a beat in the move over to the Croc Promotion USA brand during the month of June, winning both main events at the CPKC double-header at CalSpeed. New Castle is the kryptonite of Musgrave in recent years, losing out on the title last year to Myers. A new layout could be the next change Musgrave needs, but also needs additional help after a tough opening four rounds.

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 the TaG and Shifterkart categories 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 also included the results for the major one-off events such as the SKUSA SuperNationals, 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 2019, the SKUSA SuperNationals will receive a score of 10 in its initial weighting in the TaG and Shifterkart categories. A base ranking of 9.5 is set for the SKUSA Pro Tour, while a base ranking of 9 goes to the SKUSA Winter Series, United States Pro Kart Series, Florida Winter Tour, Challenge of the Americas, ROK the RIO, All Star Finals, Stars and Stripes Trophy and Open, 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.

eKartingNews.com Shifterkart Driver Rankings Powered by Bell Racing USA – as of June 28, 2019