Ryan Norberg remains in the top position of the EKN TaG Driver Rankings, fresh off his first USPKS X30 Pro championship (Photo: EKN)

The final rounds of the 2021 season are directly ahead of us, setting up for the heavyweight fight that is the eKartingNews.com TaG Driver Rankings. Over the last 12 months, drivers from across the country battled for victories and podiums. And now, a handful of drivers have the opportunity to finish the season as the top driver of the year. What is ahead are two major events to close out the 2021 season with ROK Vegas this week and the Superkarts! USA SuperNationals 24 in December.

From the beginning of the season, Ryan Norberg (Rolison Performance Group / Kosmic) has held the top spot of the EKN TaG Driver Rankings. The Florida driver is coming off his first USPKS championship, and holds a 108-point advantage heading into the final events. Teammate and 2021 SKUSA Pro Tour champion Hannah Greenemeier sits second. Florida Winter Tour title winner and top rookie of 2021 Connor Zilisch (Team Nitro Kart / Tony Kart) is now in the third position. Zilisch won at every program he competed at and is set to make his Senior debut at the SuperNationals where he won Mini Swift in 2017.

Within reach of the top-three is SKUSA Pro Tour vice-champion Branyon Tiner (Rolison Performance Group / Kosmic). Tiner racked up three podiums in the six rounds, however, was minus a win on the season in X30 competition. The driver from the Lone Star State has wins at the regional level in KA100 Senior competition at the Texas Sprint Racing Series, and could end in the top-three with a solid finish at the SuperNationals. Up five spots to fifth is Pauly Massimino, who moved over to the Ryan Perry Motorsport operation mid-way through the season. The SKUSA SuperNationals 23 KA100 Senior winner ended up on the podium at the SKUSA SummerNationals and at the UPSKS finale in X30 competition to help elevate his position in the EKN Driver Rankings.

Falling to the sixth position is last year’s co-#1 driver Arias Deukmedjian (Trinity Karting Group / Kart Republic). With the 2020 SKUSA Summer Festival from New Castle finally removed, the results based on the last 12 months for Deukmedjian are strong enough finishes to remain in the top-10, as the Florida driver is looking more and more toward open wheel racing in the future. Thomas Annunziata (Mike Doty Racing / Kosmic) continues to elevate his progress, up seven spots to seventh. He landed his first SKUSA Pro Tour podium at the SummerNationals, finishing fifth in the final point standings. Annunziata, however, went podiumless in USPKS competition.

The remainder of the top-10 are making their 2021 debuts in the spotlight positions. The addition of Nate Cicero makes it four Rolison Performance Group / Kosmic drivers in the top-10. Cicero gained his first SKUSA Pro Tour victory at the SummerNationals, finishing the season fourth in the championship standings for a RPG 1-2-3-4. Recently, Cicero was named to the 2022 Mazda Motorsports factory club racing team thanks to his performance at the Spec MX-5 Shootout. The New York pilot is making his temporary circuit debut over the next two months, racing at both ROK Vegas and SuperNationals. Diego Ramos (REM / Kosmic) earned a SKUSA Pro Tour victory at the WinterNationals, and his success at the Florida Winter Tour have elevated him to ninth. Rounding out the top-10 is Canadian Thomas Nepveu, who made the switch to Trinity Karting Group / Kart Republic mid-way through 2021. Nepveu has been bouncing back and forth between karting and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship program, where he finished ninth in the standings – second among rookies with a win at Road America. Multiple top-10s at the SummerNationals and the USPKS finale helped to put him in 10th.

Those dropping out of the top-10 include Brandon Jarsocrak (Mike Doty Racing / Kosmic), for the first time since the early days of his move into Senior racing and TaG competition. The four-time USPKS series champion has gone winless in nine Driver Rankings events he has competed in, but continues to remain a threat, only dropping to 11th, and he is poised for an attack at the SuperNationals. Former co-#1 Luca Mars (Trinity Karting Group / Tony Kart) and 2020 SKUSA Pro Tour champion Bryson Morris (Rolison Performance Group / Kosmic) fell out of the top-60. Mars was P2 in August, losing his six-round cycle for the Summer Festival, as did Morris. Both are focused on car programs with Mars at the MX-5 Cup and Morris finishing up his Spec MX-5 factory club program. Neither, as of publishing, are expected to compete at the SuperNationals.

A key stat looking at the next two big events is the fact that over half of the top-50 are expected to be competing at the SKUSA SuperNationals 24, while less than a dozen will be at ROK Vegas this week.

Upcoming EKN TaG Driver Rankings Schedule

TaG #1 – Ryan Norberg
Orlando, Florida

(Photo: EKN)

The average finish says it all. It is not often we see a driver with a below 2.0 average finish. Norberg has five wins in the seven races he has toward his Driver Rankings points. Two DNF finishes on the season, one in Utah and one at NCMP, cost him the opportunity for a fifth SKUSA Pro Tour title. He made up for it by claiming his first USPKS crown, based around his seven straight podium finishes after missing the steps during the opening round in Ocala. Norberg only has four previous starts at the SuperNationals, with three top-10 results and a best finish of fifth in 2017. Not quite making the best seven results from the last 12 months is a third-place at the 2020 ROK the RIO event.

Point Breakdown

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TaG #2 – Hannah Greenemeier
Parker, Colorado

(Photo: EKN)

History was made in August when Hannah Greenemeier locked up the X30 Senior championship at the Superkarts! USA Pro Tour, becoming the second female driver to do so, joining Sabre Cook (2012). She was the second female driver (Kathryn Cornell in 2010 – TaG Junior) to win a Pro Tour race after grabbing the win at the SpringNationals, and joined Ashley Rogero as the only other female to win in the USPKS X30 Pro category with victory at the series finale. Those two wins, and her consistency throughout the 2021 season have her in a fight with RPG teammate for the Driver of the Year in TaG honor. While she will be focused on the Shifter ROK category at ROK Vegas, the SuperNationals 24 will be her opportunity to take that top position.

Point Breakdown

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TaG #3 – Connor Zilisch
Mooresville, North Carolina

(Photo: EKN)

There is no doubt about the talent within Connor Zilisch. The 2020 FIA Karting Academy champion beat drivers from around the world to close out his Junior career, and made his Senior rookie season in 2021 a memorable one. Zilisch secured the Florida Winter Tour championship with three straight wins, won at the SKUSA Winter Series, and added wins at the USPKS and SKUSA Pro Tour. A couple of DNFs at each program, including missing the SummerNationals, hampered his opportunity to claim a championship in either program. He did finish vice-champion in the USPKS standings. The one thing Zilisch has over the top two, a victory at the SuperNationals, via 2017 in Mini Swift.

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 the TaG and Shifterkart categories 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 also included the results for the major one-off events such as the SKUSA SuperNationals, the Rock Island Grand Prix, and other special races.

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 2021, the SKUSA SuperNationals will receive a score of 10 in its initial weighting in the TaG and Shifterkart categories. A base ranking of 9.5 is set for the SKUSA Pro Tour, while a base ranking of 9 goes to the SKUSA Winter Series, United States Pro Kart Series, Florida Winter Tour, Challenge of the Americas, ROK the RIO, Rotax Grand Nationals, Rock Island Grand Prix, and California ProKart Challenge. Other national and regional program races were given a base ranking of either 8.5 or 8.0.

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

eKartingNews.com TaG Driver Rankings – as of October 29, 2021

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