(Photo: EKN)

eKartingNews.com is happy to announce the addition of Skip Barber Racing School as the presenting sponsor for the EKN Driver Rankings. The second release of the year of the eKartingNews.com TaG Driver Rankings presented by Skip Barber Racing School features changes across the board, except at the top. The points calculations reflect the last 12 months of events and, therefore, the removal of last year’s Superkarts! USA Pro Tour SpringNationals changes the total for several drivers as did the recent running of the United States Pro Kart Series Carolina Grand Prix in May.

Ryan Norberg (RPG / Kosmic) remains at the top spot, although he did lose 46 points from last edition of the EKN Driver Rankings. His advantage has also decreased to 163 points over Canadian Thomas Nepveu (TKG / Kart Republic), who has now moved up to the second spot. Pauly Massimino (RPM / Tony Kart) has also advanced to third. Former second place driver Nathaniel Cicero (RPG / Kosmic) dropped a third-place finish from last year’s SKUSA SpringNationals, which has put him behind Nepveu and Massimino.

Jumping up two positions to fifth is Alessandro de Tullio (Parolin USA). The SKUSA Winter Series race winner held the same point total from the April edition. It was the drop of Thomas Annunziata (MDR / Kosmic) out of the top-10 and Hannah Greenemeier (RPG / Kosmic) falling to sixth that promoted de Tullio, who was also just victorious in the USF Juniors event at VIR, where he swept the weekend. Greenemeier, the 2021 SKUSA Pro Tour champion, dropped her lone victory from SpringNationals, losing 148 points in total from April standings. She will not be replacing those points she lost as she will make her Pro Shifter debut at this year’s SpringNationals.

Jumping up two spots are two international drivers – Brazilian Matheus Morgatto (AM / Exprit) and Dutch driver Marijn Kremers (PSL / Birel ART). Morgatto – the 2022 SKUSA Winter Series champion – has just seven races from the winter months toward his total, so he still has room to improve. It’s the same for Kremers with the 2019 FIA Karting KZ World Champion calling the USA home in 2022. He has competed in 12 races over the first five months of the year, and now sits eighth overall in the Driver Rankings.

Their improvement is due to the falling of Branyon Tiner (RPG / Kosmic) out of the top-10, as Tiner has not raced in karts thus far in 2022. That has also allowed Diego Ramos (REM / Kosmic) and Cameron Weinberg (SCR / CRG) to move into the top-10. Ramos’ total is unchanged with the Brazilian driver racing in KA100 Senior class at the USPKS Carolina Grand Prix in May. Weinberg had his best Senior weekend at GoPro Motorplex, as the rookie earned a pair of top-five finishes including a career-best runner-up result on Sunday.

Upcoming EKN TaG Driver Rankings Schedule

TaG #1 – Ryan Norberg
Orlando, Florida

(Photo: Studio52.us)

The defending United States Pro Kart Series champion is making it hard for anyone to knock him off that throne, along with the EKN Driver Rankings top spot. Four straight wins in the first half of the USPKS program puts him well out in front of the championship chase and improves his chances of ending the season on top of the EKN standings. The Rolison Performance Group driver can better his total with a solid weekend in Utah, a place where Norberg is out for redemption after errors took him out of the running for a fifth-straight SKUSA Pro Tour title last year.

Point Breakdown

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TaG #2 – Thomas Nepveu
Oka, Quebec, Canada

(Photo: Adrenaline Motorsport Media)

For now, the Trinity Karting Group / Kart Republic driver is the top challenger to Norberg in the EKN Driver Rankings. Nepveu, however, is running a limited karting schedule with his commitment to the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship, where he currently sits eighth in the standings with a best finish of sixth at the recent race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. The Canadian will not be at the SpringNationals, as he will be competing at the next USF2000 event at Road America this weekend.

Point Breakdown

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TaG #3 – Pauly Massimino
Charlotte, North Carolina

(Photo: Studio52.us)

This has been something in the making over the last 12 months. Massimino has shown the pace and speed, along with results, to be among the top ranked drivers in the USA. His consistency at the front has improved since moving to the Ryan Perry Motorsport team, and it is now showing in the EKN Driver Rankings. Despite not having a victory in his seven-race score over the last 12 months, there are plenty of podium finishes to show the talent of this North Carolina driver. A victory at the USPKS or SKUSA Pro Tour is coming for Massimino in 2022.

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 2022, 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.

eKartingNews.com TaG Driver Rankings – as of June 3, 2022

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