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| April 09, 2012 News |
| eKartingNews.com Announces 2012 Driver Rankings Schedule |
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The updated program outline and event schedules for the 2012 eKartingNews.com Driver Rankings have now been finalized. The staff here at EKN is committed to continuing the successful program, which highlights the top drivers in the country for the Touch and Go (TaG) and Stock Moto categories. Initially developed for the pages of Super Kart Illustrated magazine, the mathematical program ranks drivers using their best performances in selected events over the course of 12 months.
“The 2012 season is underway and what a great first three months it has been,” commented EKN Managing Editor David Cole. “The racing has been exciting and hard-fought, but there are another nine months still left in the year. Our EKN Driver Rankings program has been a popular component of the website’s editorial for some time now and it’s great to continue the tradition. We would like to congratulate Sam Beasley and Nicky Freytag for earning the number one positions last year in TaG and Stock Moto, respectively. It will be interesting to see who comes through as the #1 drivers in 2012. We expect things to change as new drivers emerge to challenge the established stars.”
The focus of the rankings has evolved over the years from a straight shifterkart program that targeted all the assorted gearbox classes to an approach where Intercontinental C (ICC) and Intercontinental A (ICA) divisions became the only offerings. As such, the Driver Rankings have evolved with the sport itself here in the U.S. The program was moved from the magazine to eKartingNews.com full-time in 2007 and added the TaG category following the publication’s final issue in December of 2006. At the beginning of the 2007 season, the ICA division was shelved when it was dropped from the national circuit. When those drivers and a number of others made the move to TaG, it was clear that the class was primed to replace ICA in the ranking program. In 2009, ICC began the year as part of the program but it was also removed as the class was rapidly losing support across the continent. The Stock Moto category was then added as it was definitely growing in many parts of the nation. The most recent edition of the program evaluated just the TaG and Stock Moto divisions.
The EKN Driver Rankings will continue its focus on TaG and Stock Moto categories for the 2012 season. The 2011 campaign featured a total of 480 drivers recording results in TaG, while Stock Moto grew to 181 - both increases from 2011. For 2012, karters will have a total of 134 races available to count toward the TaG Driver Rankings while Stock Moto will increase to 105 races. The schedule for TaG will be similar to 2011, with the addition of the new SKUSA ProKart Challenge programs (Texas, Rocky Mountain, Midwest), along with the WKA West Super Series, IKF Region 11 Championship, and IKF Region 7 Sprint Championship. The Stock Moto category will also welcome the updated SKUSA ProKart Challenge programs (including the new Northwest Kart Challenge, as well) along with the new Southeast Karting Challenge. We have also added the Florida Karting Championship Series and Northeast Shifter Kart Series. The SKUSA SuperNationals will be the marquee event for both TaG and Stock Moto, while the US Rotax Grand Nationals will be set as the second TaG event with a base ranking of 10.
The first edition of the 2012 EKN Driver Rankings will be released on April 16.
EKN Driver Rankings 2012 Schedule - TaG
EKN Driver Rankings 2012 Schedule - Stock Moto
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 2012, the SKUSA SuperNationals 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. The SKUSA Pro Tour series events draw a base ranking of nine (9), while the WKA Manufacturer’s Cup, Florida Winter Tour, Challenge of the Americas, IKF 2-Cycle Sprint Grand Nationals, Rotax Pan American Challenge and other regional program races were given a base ranking of either eight (8) or nine (9).
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. |
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