Ryan Norberg finishes the 2021 season atop of the EKN TaG Driver Rankings (Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca)

The 2021 season has ended after the final events on the competition calendar have been put into the books. This past year could be one of the longest in recent seasons, following the most challenging in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic. Numbers at the national level down to the club scene continue to grow, making 2021 a success across the board. Before turning the page to the 2022 season, the EKN TaG Driver Rankings final standings have been tabulated with Rolison Performance Group pilot Ryan Norberg earning ‘Driver of the Year’ status for a fourth time.

Since the opening of the 2021 season, Norberg moved up to the #1 spot at the start of the year after Arias Deukmedjian and Luca Mars transitioned from karts to cars as the co-#1 drivers to end 2020. Norberg held the position throughout the season, clinching the top spot after earning the big victory to close out the year – the SKUSA SuperNationals. Norberg set history with the victory and ending 2021 as the ‘Driver of the Year’, becoming the first driver to win at the SKUSA SuperNationals AND finish as the #1 in the TaG Driver Rankings. The second spot exchanged for the final standings as Senior rookie Connor Zilisch (Team Nitro / Tony Kart) finished the season as the #2 thanks to his podium finish at the SuperNationals. While the Florida Winter Tour champion performed strong in both X30 Senior and KA100 Senior throughout the season, Norberg’s SuperNationals victory kept him off the #1 position. 2021 SKUSA Pro Tour champion Hannah Greenemeier (RPG / Kosmic) ended too many sessions in the barriers in Las Vegas. With a DNF on SuperSunday, no new race was added to her best seven results of 2021 toward the EKN Driver Rankings. This dropped her from second to third to close out the 2021 program.

SKUSA Pro Tour race winner Branyon Tiner and ROK Vegas winner Nate Cicero put four RPG / Kosmic drivers into the top-five. Tiner was in contention for the SKUSA title in 2021, coming up just short in the end. The Texan did not compete at the SuperNationals nor the ROK Vegas event, and thus was unable to add any more points to his end total for the 2021 season. Cicero was able to put himself up into the top-five thanks to his victory in November at the ROK Cup USA season finale. The 2021 Mazda Motorsports Spec MX-5 Shootout winner won in his temp circuit debut. He needed the LCQ to make the SuperSunday main event, moving up 18 spots in that race and another 22 in the Final to end up 16th at the checkered flag.

The movement dropped Pauly Massimino (RPM / Tony Kart) to the sixth spot in the final standings. Massimino finished fourth in the USPKS standings and 10th in the SKUSA Pro Tour championship. It was a year of growth for the Carolina driver, showing consistent speed and more maturity behind the wheel. Up three spots to the seventh position is Canadian Thomas Nepveu (Trinity / Kart Republic). The final two events of 2021 helped to boost his final standings position. A P11 at ROK Vegas helped but it was the podium finish at the SuperNationals that added to his point total. Nepveu was among those in contention throughout the week, winning two heat races toward earning the pole position for SuperSunday. He would never lead a lap in the Final but finished on the podium in fifth to close out 2021.

Down two positions each are Arias Deukmedjian (Trinity / Kart Republic) and Thomas Annunziata (MDR / Kosmic). Deukmedjian finished last year as the co-#1 driver and ran a limited schedule in 2021. He picked up victories at the SKUSA Winter Series and the USPKS programs, with his last race of 2021 at the SummerNationals. Annunziata nearly pulled off the victory in KA100 at the SuperNationals until contact on the last lap took him out of contention. He needed a LCQ to move on to SuperSunday in X30, climbing up 13 spots to 23rd. It was not enough to improve his final score for the 2021 season. Completing the top-10 for 2021 EKN TaG Driver Rankings is Diego Ramos (REM / Kosmic). A winner at the SKUSA Pro Tour WinterNationals, Ramos also ran a limited schedule, having the least events toward the EKN Driver Rankings in the top-10. A top-10 at the ROK Vegas event only improved his score three more points to keep him from losing the tenth spot to close out 2021.

No drivers fell out of the top-10 in the final release of the standings with Jacob Gerke the biggest mover in the final standings within the top-50. The Florida driver put in seven events for 2021, advancing 27 spots to 50th.

TaG #1 – Ryan Norberg
Orlando, Florida

(Photo: EKN)

Four Superkarts! USA Pro Tour championships is the bar set by Ryan Norberg in the X30 Senior division. That was all before the 2021 season. This year, he added another SKUSA Winter Series crown, his first United States Pro Kart Series title, and to close out the year, a victory at the SKUSA SuperNationals 24. Had it not been for the two DNF finishes at the SKUSA Pro Tour, it could have been a fifth championship. As mentioned before, he becomes the first driver to finish the EKN TaG Driver Rankings as the #1 after winning the SKUSA SuperNationals since the program began in 2007. Despite not earning that SKUSA title, the 2021 season could arguably be the best yet by the leader of ‘Norberg Nation’.

Point Breakdown

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TaG #2 – Connor Zilisch
Mooresville, North Carolina

(Photo: EKN)

It could be a one and done for Senior rookie Connor Zilisch. He made a statement early on in the season, winning at nearly every race he attended. That included the Florida Winter Tour – earning all three wins to secure the series championship, SKUSA Winter Series, USPKS, and SKUSA Pro Tour. He eventually advanced his way toward the top of the EKN Driver Rankings. The final boost was his performance at the SKUSA SuperNationals 24. Zilisch started P6 on SuperSunday, and the 2017 Mini Swift winner took the lead by the halfway point. It was a scramble after that, grabbing fourth by the checkered flag. We may not see Zilisch much at the kart track in 2022 thanks to winning the Mazda Motorsports MX-5 Shootout, set for a full run for the championship in 2022 and signing to compete in the Trans Am Series TA2 for the full 2022 season.

Point Breakdown

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TaG #3 – Hannah Greenemeier
Parker, Colorado

(Photo: EKN)

It was a record-breaking season for RPG driver Hannah Greenemeier. In May, she became the first female driver to claim victory in a headline SKUSA Pro Tour category. It was later in August that she became the second female driver to win a SKUSA Pro Tour championship, first in a headline division when she collected the most points in the X30 Senior standings. Greenemeier added her name to the list of female winners at the United States Pro Kart Series program when she scored the triumph in the series finale at GoPro. It’s been a long road to where she is now from those early days in Cadet, and there is more coming from the young lady in the future.

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 other special races.

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 2021, 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, Rotax Grand Nationals, 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.

2021 EKN TaG Driver Rankings – Final

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