June 18, 2008
Racing - Livengood Dousman Man Cup
The Dousman, Wisconsin Manufacturers Cup event saw thirty-eight racers in TAG on Saturday and thirty-two on Sunday. The short but complex Dousman circuit saw many experienced drivers struggling. The intricate curb characteristics and high speed corners made Friday Practice difficult for Livengood where during the last practice he finally managed to pull within seven tenths of the fastest.
Thanks to the progress made in the Fridays final practice Chris felt strongly that he knew how to tune both chassis and driving for Saturdays events. With chassis changes completed and his driving refined Livengood was ready for qualifying. New tires were fixed to the Merlin Chassis and Livengood took the track. The short two lap qualifying session made running a good lap a real challenge.
His first flying lap saw him complete a 37.25 second lap time, spectacular! His best lap of the weekend! His second lap, a real flyer! 37.18 seconds! Good enough for sixth best out of the thirty-eight kart field!
Livengood commented,
"The Dousman track is so technical that it took me all day to learn how to drive this place with a bit of consistency. From every prospective I feel like this qualifying session was really my best session so far. Even so, I made a large mistake in the boot section of the track on my second lap which cost about a tenth (of a second) I'd say, so there was more potential that I failed to pull from the session. "
The prefinal began and Livengood had a good view of the front. Changes were made to the chassis but performance was down. Livengood ran consitantly but was unable to equal his lap times from the previous session. Twelfth was the result but with rain quickly approaching it was a guessing game for the final event!
Rain began to fall and wet weather tires were fixed to the Merlin Kart. At the fall of the green spray filled the air and the thirty karts that qualified for the final event screamed by. Quickly Livengood made forward progress. Soon he was tenth, not long after ninth, and he eventually reached seventh. Two mistakes later he was back to twelfth. Livengood brought the Merlin home in this poistion.
Livengoods post race statements,
One mistake in kart racing usually means large consequences and two is often the end of your race. I got lucky only losing 5 positions when I had those two off track experiences. Conditions were tough and I just pushed a bit too hard. Although, my biggest mistake was opting for used wet weather tires. I thought it was going to be drying conditions but was absolutely wrong.
Prepping for Sundays events it was discovered that Livengoods Leopard engine was expiring throughout Saturdays 20 lap final event. It was incredible that the engine even survived the duration of the race! As a result of having no spare engine Livengood was forced to withdraw from Sundays event.
Livengood can be found at the upcoming Beaverun Club events as well as future Manufacturers Cup events. Stop back often to stay current of Chris Livengood's racing adventures!
Lastly, Chris would like to thank all of his supporters, Merlin Kart USA/Franklin Motorsports, Cook Racing Engines, OurZeal.com and his father Dave.
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