(Photo: EKN - Nate Dean)

A new season is here and with that comes a new year for the eKartingNews.com Shifterkart Driver Rankings presented by Skip Barber Racing School program. It has been a busy first three months and April has been no different. In total, 21 main events have been counted toward the Driver Rankings on the 2023 calendar year, with the first installment of the standings released this year factoring in results from the last 12 months.

The top two spots on the EKN Shifterkart Driver Rankings remain unchanged to start the 2023 season with Marijn Kremers and AJ Myers at the top of the standings. Kremers (PSL Karting / Birel ART) is coming off the SKUSA Pro Tour championship in 2022 while Myers (Magik Kart USA) was the top challenger all season long. Kremers’ lead has increased to 150 points despite losing points himself.

Moving up to third, replacing former PSL Karting / Birel ART driver Jake French is Hunter Pickett. The California driver secured the Challenge of the Americas championship last year, and while not defending the crown is coming off two wins at the series finale in Sonoma. French called the SuperNationals 25 his final event and will continue to fall down the order after finishing 2022 in the third spot of the standings. He slipped to 19th this month. Also moving up one spot is the new Challenge of the Americas champion Jacob Gulick (GFC Karting). Three wins at this year’s program have helped to keep him in the top-five overall.

Up to the fifth spot is four-time SuperNationals winner Billy Musgrave (Factory Karts). His performance at the recent SKUSA Pro Tour WinterNationals in Orlando, including victory on Sunday, advanced him up three spots to round out the initial top-five for the 2023 season. Just behind him in sixth spot is GFC Karting driver Kyle Wick. A couple of top-five results at the SKUSA WinterNats keeps him on the verge of breaking into the top-five of the standings once again.

One of the ‘On the Move’ drivers to begin the 2023 season is Giorgio Carrara from Argentine. Driving for International Motorsports aboard the Lenzo Kart, Carrara took advantage of all the events in Florida to build up results, recording a best finish of runner-up at the opening round of the Florida Winter Tour, including other podium finishes at SKUSA Winter Series and USPKS.

A total of four drivers fell out of the top-10 to begin the 2023 season, including Hannah Greenemeier (Rolison Performance Group / LN Racing Kart) from sixth, Davide Greco (PSL Karting / Birel ART) from ninth, Ron White (RWR / CRG) from 10th. This has allowed Tahlon Yockel to jump up to eighth, Keawn Tandon into ninth and Vincenzo Sarracino rounding out the top-10. Yockel (Magik Kart USA) put in a top-10 performance to elevate him from 11th. Tandon (GFC Karting) was on the cusp of earning his first Challenge of the Americas victory this season at PKRA and Sonoma, earning four podium finishes with three runner-up results to improve seven spots to start the year. Sarracino (VSKarting / TB Kart)had a podium finish to open up the Florida Winter Tour and posted top-10 results in two more starts to begin his 2023 season.

The biggest ‘On the Move’ drivers were Ayrton Cahan and Gabriel Cahan racing with Leading Edge Motorsports. Their campaign at the Challenge of the Americas moved them up 153 spots and 156 positions respectively to move into the top-50.

Upcoming Events

Shifterkart #1 – Marijn Kremers
Gemert, Netherlands

(Photo: EKN – Nate Dean)

The 2023 ROK Cup USA Florida Winter Tour championship is another notch on the CV for the former FIA KZ World Champion. Last year’s SKUSA Pro Tour champion has only two wins thus far on the season, both coming at the FWT. A string of podiums has followed including the USPKS and SKUSA Pro Tour openers. Despite losing the two wins at the WinterNationals last year, replacing them with two podium finishes increased the PSL Karting / Birel driver holds a point lead of 150 heading into the bulk of the season.

Point Breakdown

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Shifterkart #2 – AJ Myers
Tampa, Florida

(Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

Former SKUSA Pro Tour champion Myers has already added a championship to his resume in the 2023 season. The Magik Kart USA driver won two of the four rounds to claim the SKUSA Winter Series title to begin the year. A possible inaugural victory was taken away due to a brake failure at the USPKS Southern Grand Prix. He followed that up with two podium results at the SKUSA Pro Tour WinterNationals to position himself for a run toward a fourth SKUSA crown. Redemption is on the mind of Myers heading this weekend to Texas for the USPKS second event.

Point Breakdown

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Shifterkart #3 – Hunter Pickett
Benicia, California

(Photo: ChallengeKarting.com)

The top three of the Shifterkart Driver Rankings features one international, one east coast, and one west coast pilot with Hunter Pickett moving back into the mix. The transition to PSL Karting, racing alongside Kremers and French, took time to adjust. He’s off to a solid start in 2023, picking up good results at the USPKS and SKUSA WinterNationals before returning to the Challenge of the Americas for his first wins of season at his home track in Sonoma. Pickett will need to beat Kremers and Myers head-to-head in order to inch closer toward the top of the EKN Driver Rankings.

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 2023, 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 Vegas, 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.

EKN Shifterkart Driver Rankings presented by Skip Barber Racing School – as of April 24, 2023

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