Fritz Leesmann remains as the top driver in the EKN Stock Moto Driver Rankings (Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca)

The 2015 season is becoming one of excitement in the Stock Moto categories. The SpringNationals and SummerNationals events on the Superkarts! USA Fikse Wheels Pro Tour have produced some incredible racing, and the regional and club programs around the country are continuing to see an increase in the number of six-speed powered machines at their events. The running of the SummerNats at the popular New Castle Motorsports Park helped many drivers improve on their driver ranking scores, although the order remaining unchanged at the top of the standings.

Two-time SKUSA champion Fritz Leesmann (CRG) holds his position at the top of the eKaringNews.com Stock Moto Driver Rankings. Both he and Billy Musgrave improved on their score thanks to their stellar results at the SummerNationals at the end of July. Leesmann’s best result at NCMP was second, finishing behind the Praga North America’s Musgrave won Sunday. While both improved their scores in the rankings, Leesmann held onto the #1 spot while Musgrave cut the NorCal driver’s lead to just 57 point from 63, where it was last month.

Ron White (CRG) improved his point total with another string of top-10 results, and will head into Las Vegas to an event where he will be more than capable of landing on the podium once again. S1 Pro Stock Moto rookie Jarred Campbell remains in the fourth position, keeping pace with the fast drivers, just not standing out with the blistering speed we have seen from the Praga North America driver at the California ProKart Challenge events, where he leads the season standings. The other driver on the move was Tony Kart pilot Kolton Griffin, who turned in his best performance of the season at the SummerNationals. Fighting his way into the top-five on Saturday, Griffin remained quick on Sunday to land himself his first Fikse Wheels Pro Tour podium in the third position, making it an American 1-2-3 result for the first time since the 2013 SpringNationals. Griffin’s results moved him into the fifth position in the rankings.

Another driver with a great performance was Jonathan Kotyk. The Top Kart pilot earned his first-ever Fikse Wheels Pro Tour S1 podium on Saturday, placing third behind the two international drivers, Patrik Hajek and Rick Dreezen. Kotyk remains sixth, while Carter Williams continues to show as the top S2 driver in the Driver Rankings. Williams (FA Kart) struggled early in New Castle, but climbed back toward the front and improved his point total in the standings to jump up two spots to seventh. Miguel Lopez has now broken into the top-10 thanks to a S2 double-win performance at the SummerNationals. The GP driver was on his game, and now has positioned himself behind Williams in both the championship chase and the EKN Driver Rankings.

California ProKart Challenge regulars Matias Podboj (Mad-Croc) and Ryon Beachner (Tony Kart) complete the top-10, as Cody Hodgson (Aluminos) has fallen down the order as he did not card a replacement result for the 2014 SummerNationals, which was dropped from the calculations for this update.

Upcoming EKN Stock Moto Driver Rankings Events

Fritz Leesmann (Photo: EKN)

Stock Moto #1 – Fritz Leesmann
Folsom, California

We have seen it for nearly a decade from Fritz Leesmann. Ranked among the most successful shifterkart drivers in the United States, the NorCal competitor is once again in position to battle for his third SKUSA Fikse Wheels Pro Tour title. A small mishap in Round Three cost him valuable points, but a third runner-up finish in four rounds of racing have the CRG driver in the mix heading to the SuperNationals. Poor results from last year’s SummerNats were replaced with better point totals to elevate his point total in the Driver Rankings, keeping him as the current ‘King of Stock Moto’.

Point Breakdown

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Billy Musgrave (Photo: EKN)

Stock Moto #2 – Billy Musgrave
Norco, California

Victory is ‘oh so sweet’, and for Billy Musgrave, the next big one took some time. Musgrave jumped into the S2 category at the SuperNationals back in 2012, coming away with a breakthrough victory in Las Vegas over Sabre Cook. Over the last two seasons, the SoCal driver has shown the speed and the talent at the regional level with two championships to his credit, but a Fikse Wheels Pro Tour victory has eluded him. Musgrave looked to be on a mission on Sunday at the SummerNationals, as Leesmann tried to take down the younger Praga driver, but Billy prevailed with his first victory, and earned a $1,000 pay day for winning the overall weekend points total. Now heading into Vegas, could it be a second victory at the famed SuperNationals this November? Would this push Musgrave to the #1 ranking to end the 2015 season?

Point Breakdown

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Ron White (Photo: EKN)

Stock Moto #3 – Ron White
San Jose, California

If you look at the history of national level shifter kart racing in the United States, Ron White has been there since the beginning when Superkarts! USA launched the ProMoto Tour in 1999. There appears to be no end in sight for 2002 SuperNationals winner, as the veteran from NorCal continues to take on the best of the best, matching up his talents against they best they have. White has the drive and passion to strive to be the best, and he will not let anyone stand in his way. A victory was on the horizon for White at the SKUSA SummerNationals in July, where he earned a heat race win and a second-place in the second moto during Saturday’s round of racing. White slipped in the final to end up sixth, moving up to fifth the following day. A former winner and recent podium finisher at the SuperNationals, do not be surprised to see White’s name near the top at the Vegas finale.

Point Breakdown

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Chris Jennings (Photo: EKN)

Stock Moto ‘On the Move’ – #15
Chris Jennings
Sachse, Texas

The driver ‘On the Move’ is from the Lone Star state once again, from the same city actually, but about double the age of last month’s focus Jake French. Chris Jennings is a great example of someone who simply loves the sport, as he competes in both S2 and S4 Master competition. A week before the SummerNationals, Jennings was looking to wrench for someone, just to be part of the action in New Castle. Then the DRT Racing / DR Kart driver and his father decided to go ahead and race it, as things got moved around back home to allow him a chance to visit New Castle, a track that was on his karting ‘bucket list’. Jennings came just one spot short of the S4 podium on Saturday, and then just a few inches of winning his first Fikse Wheels Pro Tour victory on Sunday. Back home, he remains in shape, racing the Texas ProKart Challenge S2 drivers, and he knows how to drive to the front, landing himself on the podium in both S2 and S4 at last year’s SuperNationals. Last year was a great way to close out his history at the Rio, which began with a victory in S4 back in 2008. We expect him to fight for the S4 race win when SKUSA runs its first-ever event at the Las Vegas Convention Center in November.

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 2015, 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), as does the United States Pro Kart Series, Florida Winter Tour Rotax Max Challenge, Rotax Challenge of the Americas. 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.

Stock Moto Driver Rankings – as of August 7, 2015

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