Richmond, Virginia - After some great performances but no recent trips to the winner’s circle, Duane Shields in the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster finally broke through to claim his first victory of the season by winning the NHRA Lucas Oil Regional event in Richmond, Virginia. “So far this year, the results have not matched the performance of the car. For an example, last weekend it was a bad set of tires that caused us to lose the round. So, this weekend there were no obstacles and everything came together. It’s good to finally get the results we know the car is capable of” Duane said.
Duane was on a roll right from the beginning by taking the pole position over a tough eight car field with a very competitive 5.24 at 275 MPH. In the first round, Duane faced the number eight qualifier Richard St. Pierre. At the hit it was St. Pierre out first and he was on a decent run but Duane relied on another incredible performance to seal the win as he ripped off a 5.25 at 276 MPH over St. Pierre’s 5.79 at 245 MPH.
Next, Duane faced another familiar east coast challenger, Dan Mercier, in the semi-final round. As the lights came down both cars left together with Mercier getting a slight 1000th of a second lead. But again, Duane and the PEAK Dragster was no match for his opponent as he scored low ET of the round with a 5.24 at 278 MPH over Mercier’s losing 5.54 at 266 MPH.
Before the final round Duane’s opponent, Rich McPhillips, had to swap engines and the PEAK team patiently waited as long as they could for the McPhillips team to reach the staging lanes. Finally, McPhillips’ dragster came to life and did the burnout but something was wrong with the car and McPhillips was shut off. Duane then was awarded a single for the win. On the final round pass the car launched hard and carried the wheels before it began to shake so Duane lifted and coasted to the finish line for his first win of the year. “If I had to I could have pedaled and saved the run but because it was a single there was really no point in doing that since we already had won” Duane said after the event.
The team now takes a short break until they return to competition May 27-29 for a regional event at Maplegrove Raceway. “Its great to have grabbed a win going into the break. It was a fun race and everyone on my crew did a good job of getting the car ready in time before every round” Duane said. Duane would like to thank his sponsors PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their incredible support this season.
Duane was on a roll right from the beginning by taking the pole position over a tough eight car field with a very competitive 5.24 at 275 MPH. In the first round, Duane faced the number eight qualifier Richard St. Pierre. At the hit it was St. Pierre out first and he was on a decent run but Duane relied on another incredible performance to seal the win as he ripped off a 5.25 at 276 MPH over St. Pierre’s 5.79 at 245 MPH.
Next, Duane faced another familiar east coast challenger, Dan Mercier, in the semi-final round. As the lights came down both cars left together with Mercier getting a slight 1000th of a second lead. But again, Duane and the PEAK Dragster was no match for his opponent as he scored low ET of the round with a 5.24 at 278 MPH over Mercier’s losing 5.54 at 266 MPH.
Before the final round Duane’s opponent, Rich McPhillips, had to swap engines and the PEAK team patiently waited as long as they could for the McPhillips team to reach the staging lanes. Finally, McPhillips’ dragster came to life and did the burnout but something was wrong with the car and McPhillips was shut off. Duane then was awarded a single for the win. On the final round pass the car launched hard and carried the wheels before it began to shake so Duane lifted and coasted to the finish line for his first win of the year. “If I had to I could have pedaled and saved the run but because it was a single there was really no point in doing that since we already had won” Duane said after the event.
The team now takes a short break until they return to competition May 27-29 for a regional event at Maplegrove Raceway. “Its great to have grabbed a win going into the break. It was a fun race and everyone on my crew did a good job of getting the car ready in time before every round” Duane said. Duane would like to thank his sponsors PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their incredible support this season.
