Jake Craig leads the TaG Driver Rankings - currently with no official ride for the rest of the season (Photo: EKN)

The 2016 season is becoming one of the young guns, as we are seeing a number of rookie and sophomore Senior level drivers climbing their way up the podium across North America. Unlike Stock Moto, it is rare to see an elder driver, let alone someone in the 30’s racing toward the front of the field in a TaG event. The many drivers within the top-50 are among the best young talent karting has to offer. They are all led by Jake Craig.

Craig is among the eldest in the Senior ranks, now in his fifth season. Nearly every year, Jake has been toward the top of the Driver Rankings, and remains at the top after moving to the P1 spot last month. The future is uncertain, as he and Praga North America parted ways in June, following it up with a victory at the Los Angeles Karting Championship Pro Show with Ryan Perry Motorsport. The magic number is now 11 as Brandon Jarsocrak has narrowed the gap. The KartSport North America / Praga driver recorded a third-straight third-place finish at the United States Pro Kart Series in Shawano, looking to move up the podium as the series heads to his team’s home track.

The United States Pro Kart Series point leader now with two wins under his belt is Brandon Lemke. His performances over the last two months have boosted him into the third position of the Driver Rankings, making the Franklin Motorsports / Merlin driver a potential #1 dependant on the July events. Ryan Norberg bounced back at the USPKS Shawano event after a difficult May. The Tony Kart driver finished top-five, including a runner-up to position himself back in the title chase, and up to fourth in the Driver Rankings.

Braden Eves entered the USPKS Shawano weekend as the point leader, but struggled with the 1.1-mile course. The MDD / Kosmic driver worked his way up to a fifth place finish Sunday afternoon, however, losing a number of points to Lemke in the title chase. Dropping down to sixth SoCal’s Christian Brooks. The Nash Motorsports / CRG driver started the season off strong with the Challenge of the Americas championship but was unable to match those results at the SKUSA SpringNationals. Brooks has been busy building up his car resume, currently sixth in the Red Bull Global RallyCross Lites standings.

A return to the seat by Andrick Zeen helped to move him up one spot to seventh after losing half his races already from last year. Zeen (Praga North America) came back to place fourth Sunday at the USPKS Shawano event. Dropping out of the top-three, and will continue to fall is Elliot Finlayson. The Koene USA / Tony Kart driver is moving on to open wheel racing, with Formula E the next step for the United States Pro Kart Series 2015 champion. AJ Myers (iKart) remains in the ninth position despite his best performance of the year in Shawano Sunday. Now into the top-10 is Zach Holden. The Senior rookie pulled off his first USPKS in Shawano on Saturday, only to have a broken throttle end his chance at the double win weekend. The Koene USA / Comet Kart Sales driver is egger for the SummerNationals to make a return to New Castle, where he won in his Tony Kart debut last year as a Junior driver. Kyle Kirkwood (PSL Karting / Birel ART) dropped to 11th, and sure to be back in the top-10 following the SummerNationals as the Florida driver is among the championship contenders.

Upcoming EKN TaG Driver Rankings Events

TaG #1 – Jake Craig
Mission Viejo, California

(Photo: Ryan Perry Motorsport)

The point total remains the same for Jake Craig, still holding onto the #1 position. 2016 began with the SoCal driver joining the Praga North America with a shot at the major championships across the country. Following the USPKS event in New Castle, the two parties have gone their separate ways, and now Craig is not-committed to just one team and one chassis. Winning throughout the 2014 season aboard a Tony Kart, Jake was impressive in the Formula K. He and wrench Kyle Kuntze have been mum regarding Craig’s future plans, either moving to a fourth brand in just three years, or a possible return to the OTK brand under the Ryan Perry Motorsport operation. We will find out more as the SummerNationals close in.

Point Breakdown

**************************************

TaG #2 – Brandon Jarsocrak
Shillington, Pennsylvania

(Photo: EKN)

The 2016 trip to Shawano was an improvement from last year for Jarsocrak. The trip cost him the USPKS championship lead a year ago. This year, the KartSport North America driver landed on the podium and fought back to a top-10 finish after getting taken out in one of the heat races. Sunday was more of a test session as he and father Eddie continue to find a few more tenths out of the Praga chassis. The month of July could be Jarsocrak’s chance to reach the top of the standings once again, with USPKS in Mooresville, and two weekends in New Castle with WKA and SKUSA Pro Tour.

Point Breakdown

**************************************

TaG #3 – Brandon Lemke
Eagle, Wisconsin

(Photo: USPKS.com)

Now with the first half of 2016 in the books, Lemke is showing no fear in his first Senior season. As he did throughout the 2015 season in the Junior ranks, Brandon is putting his Franklin Motorsports / Merlin to the front of the Senior fields. The average finish in his seven Driver Rankings results show its just podium finishes, including four straight top-two results at the USPKS program. Like Jarsocrak, Lemke has a busy July coming up and has the right momentum to move into the top position for the first time.

Point Breakdown

**************************************

TaG ‘On the Move’ – #39
Michael Michoff
Roseville, California

(Photo: SeanBuur.com)

Michael is another young driver in his rookie season, which had the majority of it on the sidelines. In Phoenix, Michoff suffered a ruptured spleen during an incident at the Challenge of the Americas. The Rolison Performance Group / Kosmic came back at the beginning of June, driving to a runner-up finish at the California ProKart Challenge event. The 2015 Team USA driver is certain to climb up the standings, sitting as the highest 7-race driver including his result from the hard flip in February. In no time, Michoff will be into the top-25 and begin climbing toward the top-10.

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 2016, the SKUSA Pro Tour 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. A base ranking of nine (9) goes to the United States Pro Kart Series, Florida Winter Tour Rotax Max Challenge, Challenge of the Americas, 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.

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.

EKN TaG Driver Rankings – as of July 1, 2016

Share on Facebook

Tweet