Chris Livengood last raced at the New Castle, Indiana based New Castle Motorsports Park. During the three day Manufacturers Cup event Livengood piloted his Merlin TAG package in both Saturday's and Sunday's TAG events.

Livengood had shown strong pace all day Friday and was looking forward to competing in the deep Manufacturers Cup fields. With 42 competitors in the TAG category the organizers' broke qualifying up into three groups. Despite reducing the number of karts on track in each qualifying session Livengood managed to catch a competitor on his flying lap. To make things worse this competitor was leaking fluid onto the track. Livengood navigated passed this driver but promptly went off track. Nevertheless, Livegood's lap was good enough for a 14th place prefinal starting position.

Whilst Livengood did not qualify as far up as he would have liked 14th wasn't a bad prefinal grid position. The green flag flew and the expansive field made it through the first lap with little drama. A few minor adjustments were made to the Merlin chassis and they instantly paid off. Livengood advanced his way through the field with ease and finished the prefinal in fifth.

Starting from the fifth position Livengood had a clear view of the front. The drop of the green saw him fall into the fifth position. From there Livengood hung at the tail of the lead group just bidding his time. Slowly the lead group pulled away from the rest of the field. On lap four Chris took over the fourth position, which he held until lap 10. Complete lap twelve and approaching the last corner Livengood allowed a large gap to accumulate between him and the lead pack. The first four battled intensely for the win and one competitor left the racing surface. By avoiding this contact Livengood was able to pick up another spot to finish fourth.

Typically Livengood get's faster as the weekend progresses and as a result Livengood was anxious for Sunday's event. Time qualifying however put a dent in those dreams. Only managing the 16th best time meant Livengood had a long way to go to best his 4th place from Saturday.

Nevertheless, hope was not lost. During normal preparations for the prefinal event a mechanical malfunction was discovered on Livengood's Merlin machine. Entering the prefinal Livengood was confident that his performance would improve. At the green he got a clean start. Livengood was able to slice through the field passing 7 competitors during the six-lap prefinal. This moved him inside the top ten giving him in the 9th starting position for the final.

As the green flag flew Livengood again got a clean start, this time from the inside row. After a few laps Livengood was the tail of the nine kart lead pack. Though, Livengood struggled to hang on and made critical mistakes that didn't allow him stay in contact with the group. After losing the draft Livengood had little hope of catching the leaders, but he drove furiously nonetheless. Only just a few ticks behind the lead pack entering the final lap Livengood was hoping for a crash in the racey lead pack. He got what he was wishing for. Exiting turn two a few drivers entangled and Livengood brought his Merlin racing machine home 5th. The final results however would change. The World Karting Association went back one lap to establish results and only penalized the main protagonists of the crash. Ultimately Livengood was placed 7th.

Livengood comented on his Manufacturers Cup weekend,

"For the most part I can not complain. The kart was wicked Saturday and I managed to challenge for the win. Sunday, I drove like a butthead which demolished my chances for the win, but not all was lost as I set fast lap of the race!"

Chris would like to thank his sponsors: Franklin Motorsports, Merlin USA, OurZeal - Be Zealous