Another month has been completed for the 2013 season, and Stock Moto racing continues to grow. The new release of the eKartingNews.com Driver Rankings still has over 200 drivers recording results from the past 12 months, despite a number of events removed from the standings from last year. The order of the Stock Moto standings changed very little, despite one big name driver dropping out of the top-10, as a number of regional program results were added from the month of May.

Fritz Leesmann (CRG) continues to lead the way as the top Stock Moto driver in the country. The 2012 SKUSA Pro Tour S1 champion and current point leader currently holds a large lead, with the drop of Joey Wimsett (CRG). The Pro Tour championship contender has only the five Pro Tour events to his credit, losing two regional results from a year ago. Wimsett has been keeping sharp in the his home region, competing at the Can-Am ProKart Challenge, but numbers have not been large enough to be included in the EKN Driver Rankings. The new top challenger is the rising Billy Musgrave (Tony Kart). A winner in the S2 category at the 2012 SpringNationals, Musgrave moved up to the S1 category. He’s undefeated at the California ProKart Challenge, with two strong runs at this year’s SpringNats. Two podium finishes at the SummerNationals this July should see Musgrave cut into the 409 point deficit he is facing.

Utah driver Tyler Bennett (Tony Kart) remains third, losing just 30 points from his total last month. Bennett continues to enjoy the tough competition at the Utah State Championship series at Miller Motorsports Park. Last year’s S2 Semi-Pro SKUSA champion Sabré Cook (CRG) moves one spot to fourth. Finished with her first year in college, Cook has returned back to Grand Junction preparing for the upcoming SummerNationals where she hopes to earn her first Pro Tour victory. Rounding out the top five is Alec Gumpfer (Tony Kart). Aside from Musgrave, Gumpfer has been the next best thing at the California PKC program, placing runner-up to Musgrave the last two events.

Sixth in the order is SoCal driver Jimmy McNeil (CRG). The 2012 California PKC champ continues fighting Musgrave and Gumpfer, which has turned into a great battle to watch as the season progresses. Ryan Kinnear (Intrepid) is the top S2 driver in the standings, now up to seventh. Kinnear is battling once again for the Pro Tour title, and is in the hunt at the regional level with two events in the books for the Texas ProKart Challenge. Cody Diede (CRG), another S2 driver, is up two positions to eighth with former #1 driver Nicky Freytag falling down the order. Diede did not have the weekend he had hoped for at the SpringNats carrying the SKUSA #3 plate, and is looking to rebound at the SummerNats to defend his first Pro Tour victory from a year ago.

Jake French (DR Kart) moves to ninth, returning back within the top-10. It was a challenging SpringNationals for French, who may fall down the order should he continue to struggle in the future. Rounding out the top-10 is Colorado driver Christian Schureman (CRG). The young driver has shown the speed, winning at last year’s SummerNationals and led in Tucson.

Fritz Leesmann
(Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

Stock Moto #1
Fritz Leesmann
Elk Grove, California

Much like Gary Carlton during the ICC days, Fritz Leesmann has established himself as the driver to beat in Stock Moto competition. Two Pro Tour championships in the last three years and is always in contention for a race win. Joey Wimsett has kept Leesmann honest, but the NorCal driver has yet to win at the SuperNationals, losing against two international drivers the last two years and longtime rival/friend Alex Speed in 2010 when he won the first Pro Tour title. Leesmann was absent at the 2011 SummerNationals in Grand Junction, so this will be his first visit to the Colorado circuit.

Point Breakdown

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Luke Shanahan
(Photo: Gregory Lussier)

Stock Moto ‘On the Move’ – #42
Luke Shanahan
Dallas, Texas

A lot of talent in the S2 Semi-Pro category resides in the state of Texas. Among one of the new drivers coming up through the growing Texas ProKart Challenge is Luke Shanahan. Entering the sport last season in the popular ‘Chonda’ classes in the Dallas area, Shanahan moved to the Stock Moto ranks for 2013. He made his Pro Tour debut at the SpringNats, but his progression has shown at the Texas PKC program. Luke has scored three-straight fifth place finishes, running behind some of the best S2 pilots in the country.

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 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 2013, 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 Manufacturers Cup, Florida Winter Tour, Rotax Challenge of the Americas, IKF 2-Cycle Sprint Grand Nationals, Rotax Pan American Challenge, United States Pro Kart Series 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.

Stock Moto – as of June 10, 2013

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