Nick Neri (Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca)

Ten events have been added over the last six weeks to the eKartingNews.com Stock Moto Driver Rankings. Regional events in Texas, Colorado, Pittsburgh, Florida, Utah and California were contested since the August 15 release of the standings, along with the annual King of the Streets at the Rock Island Grand Prix. Nothing changed in the top eight positions in Stock Moto, with Florida driver Nick Neri holding the lead for a second straight month.

Neri has established himself as one of the overall top drivers in United States karting. Success in the TaG categories, along with a recent US Rotax Grand Nationals win in the DD2 division, Neri is gaining hardware in Stock Moto. He holds a 151-point advantage over California driver Billy Musgrave. The former #1 driver and the current #1 pilot will meet again at the SKUSA SuperNationals XVIII to decide this year’s top driver. Veteran Ron White (CRG) sits third after an impressive start to the 2014 season, including a win at the California ProKart Challenge. Two-time Pro Tour champion Fritz Leesmann (Aluminos) is fourth, still looking for that elusive SuperNats win. Last year’s S2 Semi-Pro SuperNats winner Connor Wagner (FA Kart) has himself in fifth, the highest among the S1 rookies this year.

SKUSA Pro Tour S2 Semi-Pro champion from 2013 – Christian Schureman (CRG) – is just behind by 11 points. Augie Lerch (Tony Kart) is the third of the four S1 rookies in the standings top-10, holding the seventh spot. Eighth is Cody Hodgson (Tony Kart), among the elders in the shifterkart category at the age of 23. The only change in the top-10 is the return of Sabré Cook (CRG), thanks to a recent runner-up result at the California ProKart Challenge, as Ryan Kinnear (Praga) dropped to 11th. Still holding tenth is S1 rookie Oliver Askew (Tony Kart), currently third in the Pro Tour standings behind Jordon Lennox and Neri.

Upcoming eKartingNews.com Stock Moto Driver Rankings Events

Nick Neri (Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

Stock Moto #1 – Nick Neri
Palmeto, Florida

It has been a solid 12 months for Ocala Gran Prix. Finishing runner-up last year at the SuperNationals, Neri has finished on the podium in all four Pro Tour races in 2014. A championship at the Florida Winter Tour along with a victory at the Cold Stone US Grand Nationals in July has put him on Team USA for the Rotax Grand Finals to compete in the DD2 category at the ‘Olympics of Karting’. Following the SuperNationals, Neri will travel to Spain, looking to become the first American to win the crown in that category.

Point Breakdown

Inside the Stats
Average Finish: 2.33
Average Points: 1056.2
Total Points: 6337

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Kyle Kirkwood (Photo: On Track Promotions – otp.ca)

Stock Moto ‘On the Move’ – #30
Kyle Kirkwood
Jupiter, Florida

One of the newest drivers to join the SKUSA Stock Moto ladder system is Ocala Gran Prix driver Kyle Kirkwood. The S2 rookie was the quickest S5 Junior driver at the SuperNationals, sweeping all on-track sessions to secure victory in his Superkarts! USA debut. Testing in Florida all season, driving alongside Nick Neri and Oliver Askew helped develop the young driver for the six-speed kart, and that drive to be the best has continued into 2014. Kirkwood won the Sunday main event at the SpringNationals, and stood on the podium in Modesto for the SummerNationals.

Point Breakdown

Inside the Stats
Average Finish: 5.0
Average Points: 914.7
Total Points: 5488

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, the Lone Star 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 2014, 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, Rotax Pan American Challenge. Other 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.

eKartingNews.com Driver Rankings – Stock Moto – as of September 22, 2014

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