2017 eKartingNews.com Driver Rankings Powered by Bell Racing USA – TaG – April 27

The second edition of the eKartingNews.com Driver Rankings Powered by Bell Racing USA for the TaG category in 2017 comes with some changes. Following the Superkarts! USA Pro Tour WinterNationals, an error was made in the March 29 standings with the incorrect base ranking for the event. The correction was made the updated points are now current for those who competed at the NOLA Motorsports Park weekend. With that, some jostling took place throughout the standings, but the top position remains unchanged.

The change did not replace the order in the top-two positions of the TaG Driver Rankings with Jake Craig (RPM / Tony Kart) and Ryan Norberg (PSL / Birel ART) still holding those spots. The SuperNats winner increased his lead to 46 points over the SKUSA Pro Tour champion with the update to the WinterNationals base ranking, Moving up to third is KartSport North America / Praga driver Brandon Jarsocrak, who left NOLA with two third-place results.

The adjustment in points promoted WinterNationals winner Zach Holden (Comet / Tony Kart) up to the fourth spot, with current SKUSA Pro Tour championship leader Christian Brooks (Nash / FA Kart) up to fifth. The top-fiver were among those in contention throughout the weekend in New Orleans. Brooks came away with the championship lead thanks to his two runner-up results, including the two crucial Prefinal wins that helped to put him at the top of the standings. Race winners Craig and Holden sit second and third in the SKUSA standings, followed by Jarsocrak and Norberg – backing up what the EKN TaG Driver Rankings.

The advancement by Jarsocrak, Holden and Brooks demoted 2016 United States Pro Kart Series champion Brandon Lemke down to sixth with no participation in a TaG race since WKA Daytona KartWeek this past December. Lemke drove to victory at the Route 66 Sprint Series in the Yamaha category in a return back to his roots after some Late Model racing.

Brooks’ big points grab in NOLA jumped him ahead of Braden Eves (MDD / Kosmic) and Austin Garrison (CompKart). Eves gained a few points with the adjustment while Garrison kept his score the same with no results from NOLA counting toward his best seven. Both are sure to be looking to join the front pack in Sonoma for the SpringNationals.

Nicky Hays (CompKart) and David Ilavia (CompKart) advance one spot to complete the top-10. Their points saw an increase with the WinterNats adjustment, moving them ahead of TJ Koyen (Innovative / Exprit), who drops to 11th.

Upcoming EKN TaG Driver Rankings Schedule

TaG #1 – Jake Craig
Mission Viejo, California

Craig has become one of the most decorated TaG drivers in North America over the past five years. A SKUSA title in 2014 is joined by two US Rotax Grand Nationals victories and a SuperNationals triumph this past November. Craig added to that impressive CV by winning the inaugural round of the WinterNationals to etch his name into the history books. As one of the lead contenders in the SKUSA Pro Tour standings heading into the SpringNats, Craig has a chance to make history and become the first two-time champion in the headline TaG division in Superkarts! USA.

Point Breakdown

Inside the Stats
Average Finish: 3.0
Average Points: 1088.7
Total Points: 7621

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TaG #2 – Ryan Norberg
Orlando, Florida

The target is on Norberg in the form of the #1 SKUSA plate. When you are the defending champion, everyone is against you. Norberg had no partners in the lead pack during the WinterNationals event with that #1 slapped on the side of his Birel ART all weekend. Two top-five results in NOLA is nothing to look down on, as it was a solid weekend for Florida driver who is coming off a double championship effort at the Florida Winter Tour in the Rok and Rotax programs. Now the focus moves to the SpringNationals where Norberg has kept himself in the hunt to defend the title, and podium finishes in Sonoma could do just that.

Point Breakdown

Inside the Stats
Average Finish: 3.14
Average Points: 1083.6
Total Points: 7585

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TaG #3 – Brandon Jarsocrak
Reading, Pennsylvania

The number 3 has been surrounding Jarsocrak for the last 12 months. Many of the results recorded by the KartSport North America driver saw him standing on the third step of the podium throughout the 2016 season. Jarsocrak earned the SKUSA #2 plate following his efforts at the Pro Tour after coming up short of the championship podium in 2015. The win total has already been doubled this year from 2016 thanks to victories at WKA Daytona KartWeek and Round Two at the USPKS in Mooresville. Jarsocrak is still gunning for that elusive SKUSA Pro Tour triumph, and Sonoma could be the answer.

Point Breakdown

Inside the Stats
Average Finish: 4.14
Average Points: 1072.14
Total Points: 7505

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TaG ‘On the Move’ – #18
Jacob Gulick
Vancouver, Washington

2017 is the rookie Senior season for Rolison Performance Group driver Jacob Gulick. The Kosmic pilot was among the quickest all winter at the Challenge of the Americas, placing in the top-five four times, including his first Senior podium during the Sonoma weekend. Add in a top-five at the Streets of Willow with California PKC, Gulick is on the fast track to putting himself further up the Driver Rankings as the season progresses. Now at a track he is very familiar with, Gulick will look to improve on his finishes from the WinterNationals where he finished outside the top-20.

Point Breakdown

Inside the Stats
Average Finish: 4.57
Average Points: 961
Total Points: 6727

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 TaG and six in Stock Moto 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 included the results for the major one-off events such as the SKUSA SuperNationals, the US Rotax Max Challenge Grand Nationals, 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 2016, the SKUSA Pro Tour and US Rotax Max Challenge Grand Nationals receive a score of 10 in their initial weighting in the TaG category while the SuperNationals is the lone event in the Stock Moto division. A base ranking of nine (9) goes to the United States Pro Kart Series, Florida Winter Tour Rotax Max Challenge, Challenge of the Americas, 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.

The EKN staff reserves the right to adjust the rankings of each event throughout the year. A minimum entry total for any events 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 in TaG, six for Stock Moto, we calculate each driver’s overall score and subsequent ranking.

TaG Driver Rankings Powered by Bell Racing USA – as of April 27, 2017