June 30, 2008
Racing - Livengood Takes His Fourth Win!
The 6th round of the Beaverun Karting Series took place on June 29th. This marked the halfway point for the series as well as being the last points event before a long July break.
Timed qualifying saw drivers entering a track with wet spots and one large mud slick at the apex of the next to last corner. On his first lap Livengood ran a flier! 57.93 seconds and held the lead! On his second lap he found traffic and decided to slow dramatically to create a gap. His third lap was again a flier but saw no improvement. He was was just .025 off of his first lap. Coming through for the fourth time, again no improvement. Disappointment struck! Long time friend and rival competitor John Flucker stole pole on his last lap!
Overcast skies accompanied by brief and irregular rain drops became the topic of discussion down pit lane. What setup should be chosen, dry or wet? At-last, the time came to race and thick doubt loomed heavy in the skies above. Despite the threat from above all the TAG drivers entered the track with dry weather setups. The green flag flew just as the skies began to increase their rainy assault on the racing surface below. Livengood however was not to be denied. He drove a creative rain line around turn one and managed to carry his momentum into the lead. Entering Beaverun's tricky turn three he again drove wide to avoid the increasingly slick dry line and continued with the lead. Just after completing the three laps the red flag was thrown. Conditions were at this point wetter than was considered safe for dry weather tires. Finishing positions were then finalized with Chris taking the pre-final win.
When the time came to run the final race rain had thoroughly soaked the racing surface. However, steady rain fall had stopped and the sun had began to peak again. Such was the unpredictable nature of the weekends weather. Nevertheless, the green flag flew and the field navigated its around the Beaverun circuit. Livengood drove steadily and managed to drive to an impressive lead. The fall of the checkered flag saw Livengood cross the line with a 16 second lead. This was achieved in just 10 laps!
Livengood commented post race,
Go BackThis was our third rain race of the year and I feel like we have really made progress on the our rain setup. The Merlin chassis has been great to us all year and we couldn't be happier with our current progress. Sean Cook just returned our Parilla Leopard and again it was a beast. The entire package has really come together!