(Photo: EKN)

The midway point of the 2023 season is here and the eKartingNews.com TaG Driver Rankings presented by Skip Barber Racing School is taking shape. Now results from the second half of 2022 are joined by the first six months of this season to show a better view of those who have performed the best over the last 12 months. The Superkarts! USA SpringNationals and United States Pro Kart Series race in June helped shape a new standings, including a big shakeup in the top-10.

One thing remains the same, with five-time SKUSA Pro Tour champion and two-time USPKS title winner Ryan Norberg (Rolison Performance Group / Kosmic) at the top of the standings. Norberg saw his lead shrink to now just 93 points with the improvement of British driver Joe Turney (Chad Dokken Racing / Kart Republic) now into the second spot. Brazilian driver Diego Ramos (PSL Karting / Birel ART) remains in third, improving his score to close to within 200 points of Norberg as well.

Falling out of the top-three is Hayden Jones (Trinity Karting Group / Kart Republic), only losing 24 points he drops from second to fourth. He was not in Utah for SpringNationals but finished 13th at the USPKS Indiana Grand Prix. No changes come for fifth and sixth as Alessandro de Tullio and Austin Garrison (Speed Concepts Racing / Redspeed) remain in those positions. A gain in points for de Tullio from his results in join along with a move from Prime Powerteam and Birel ART to International Motorsports aboard a Kart Republic between the SKUSA and USPKS. A gain of 84 points thanks to two top-seven finishes in Utah and an eighth in New Castle. Garrison’s victory at the USPKS Indiana Grand Prix helped him gain 44 points to be now within 300 points of Norberg.

Another driver to advance up is FIA Karting World Champion Matheus Morgatto (PSL Karting / Birel ART). Bouncing back and forth from USA to Europe, the Brazilian recorded three top-10s between SKUSA and USPKS to gain 104 points in the month of June. Continuing to drop out down the order by losing his results of the 2022 season is Jeremy Fletcher. One of the top Senior rookie drivers in 2022 is down to eighth, holding onto 12 results over the last 12 months.

Up one spot is this month’s top Senior rookie in Canadian Ayden Ingratta (Speed Concepts Racing / Redspeed). Ingratta missed the month of April due to illness but is making up for it over the month of June with sixth place result at the USPKS Indiana GP. Behind him is the top challenger for Rookie of the Year in Brandon Carr (Ryan Perry Motorsport / Tony Kart). The British driver went into the month of June leading the USPKS standings but struggled on the weekend to finish 12th. He also had a best finish of 10th in Utah.

The only driver to fall out of the top-10 this month is Marijn Kremers (PSL Karting / Birel ART). The Dutch driver who currently leads the EKN Shifterkart Driver Rankings ran double duty throughout 2022. Without any single speed races this season, Kremers will continue to fall down the order after finishing last year’s standings in third.

‘On the Move’ for the month of June is Oliver Hodgson (J3 Competition / CompKart). The former Rotax Grand Finals champion claimed his first SKUSA Pro Tour victory in Utah, helping him to jump up 47 spots to 20th thanks to recording seven races toward the EKN TaG Driver Rankings.

Upcoming Events

TaG #1 – Ryan Norberg
Orlando, Florida

(Photo: EKN – Nate Dean)

It has been a challenging season for the five-time SKUSA Pro Tour champ and two-time defending title winner at USPKS. Norberg has gone winless on the year in the two programs, including the SKUSA Winter Series. That’s 11 main events without Norberg at the top of the podium. His point total dropped down with the loss of two wins in Utah last year, however, were replaced by two podium results of second and third this June. It seems that the competition has closed the gap now on Norberg, and the days of him dominating a weekend could be gone for good. We’ll see if the Rolison Performance Group / Kosmic driver can rebound at the SummerNationals in July.

Point Breakdown

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TaG #2 – Joe Turney
Milton Keynes, England

(Photo: Nate Dean – EKN)

There has been no one making more of an impact on the 2023 season like Joe Turney. The new Kart Republic factory driver made his debut at the SKUSA Winter Series aboard the brand, joining Chad Dokken Racing for his first event in those colors. It paid off with two wins in the four rounds, gaining the series championship. He has the same score in the SKUSA Pro Tour with a win at Orlando and Utah to lead the championship standings heading into the series finale at the end of July. Add in a victory at his USPKS debut in Texas, along with a P4 at New Castle to put him as one of the top drivers in 2023.

Point Breakdown

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TaG #3 – Diego Ramos
Davenport, Florida

(Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

An increase in points keeps the Brazilian in the third spot. It is about consistency for the PSL Karting / Birel ART driver in 2023 as he wraps up his first full year with the team. Ramos has a good string of results over the last 12 months in SKUSA competition, and finds himself third in the championship standings while a return to the USPKS podium for the first time in 2023 at New Castle helped to elevate him into the top of the championship standings. He will take that momentum into the second half of the season, battling for two titles and a chance to move himself up further into the EKN TaG 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 TaG Driver Rankings presented by Skip Barber Racing School – as of June 30, 2023

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