The 2013 season is nearing the end, with only a few more local and regional events still on the calendar before turning over for 2014. One race everyone is looking forward to is now just three weeks away, with nearly 600 drivers expected for the Superkarts! USA SuperNationals XVII. The SKUSA Pro Tour finale will have a major impact on the eKartingNews.com Driver Rankings, improving a driver’s position or hurting the final point tally for the season dependant on the results from SuperSunday.

Pro Tour championship leader Fritz Leesmann (CRG) remains on the top of the standings, coming off a solid win at the Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix. The Californian also made his Rock Island Grand Prix debut, placing third to event regulars Jordon Musser and Josh Lane. Leesmann narrowly took home the win in Lancaster, hounded by S1 rookie Billy Musgrave (Tony Kart). Since winning the SuperNationals S2 race last year, Musgrave has been a consistent front-runner all season. His runner-up to Leesmann helped to decrease gap for the top spot in the rankings by just 154 points as they head to Las Vegas to decide who will end 2013 on top.

Nothing changed in the order from third place down to ninth, with S1 drivers making up most of the spots joined by two S2 drivers. Last year’s Pro Tour S2 champion Sabré Cook (CRG) remains third, coming off a challenging return to the seat after gallbladder surgery in August at the Streets of Lancaster. She’s fine physically, and should be a factor in Las Vegas. Fourth remains Pro Tour S2 point leader Ryan Kinnear (Intrepid), who has been a consistent championship contender for the past two years. A solid run at the SuperNationals could lock up the title for the Irish-native. Rounding out the top-five is another S1 rookie, Alec Gumpfer. The ‘Flyin Hawaiian’ scored a podium run at the Streets of Lancaster GP, but has signed on to join Cook under the CRG-USA operation for the SuperNationals. A quick transition will be key to his success as the season closes.

Utah driver Tyler Bennett (Tony Kart) remains sixth, and is always a threat at the podium when it comes to SuperNationals. Former G1 SuperNats winner Jimmy McNeil (CRG) is seventh, looking for a solid finish in Vegas to close out the season after a second straight year wrecking in Lancaster. Second Utah driver Mike Beeny (Tony Kart) is eighth, riding off the podium finish at the SummerNationals. S2 driver Christian Schureman (CRG) is second in the Pro Tour standings, and is looking to challenge Kinnear for the title. Moving into the top-10 is Christian Bird, who is representing the GP Kart brand in the US. The Colorado driver earned another top-10 finish at the Streets of Lancaster, shooting for a top-10 at the SuperNationals.

Fritz Leesmann

Stock Moto #1 – Fritz Leesmann
Elk Grove, California

For the past few years, Leesmann has been the benchmark for shifterkart drivers in the United States. The two-time SKUSA Pro Tour champion is going for his third when we head to the SuperNationals. Four straight podium finishes, including a win each weekend, put him comfortably out front in the standings, similar to his run back in 2010. The one thing that remains vacant on his CV however is a SuperNationals win. So you can go ‘all in’ that Leesmann is gunning for victory first, championship second.

Point Breakdown

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Ryon Beachner

Stock Moto ‘On the Move’ – #23
Ryon Beachner
Lake Forest, California

The proof is in the numbers that a driver can move up the order, racing just their regional program. 2 Wild Karting owner Ryon Beachner was able to get back behind the wheel this year when not helping out all his customers trackside. With an average top-five finish against some of the top S1 drivers in the country, Beachner finished the season fourth in the California PKC championship. He ended the year going ‘vintage’, pulling out a 1997 Tony Kart Esprit from the shop rack (pictured right). With the help of industry partners in gaining parts and some additional welding after Saturday’s action, Beachner was able to race Sunday. While not racing the SuperNationals to support customers, Ryon is set to improve his position once 2014 begins.

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 Driver Rankings – as of October 31, 2013

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