Charlotte - Duane Shields showed plenty of promise that big things are yet to come this season for the PEAK A/Fuel team. Duane and the PEAK team qualified second and landed a semifinal finish at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals held at zMax Dragway this past weekend.
After a rain delay that canceled racing on Friday, Duane started Saturday’s qualifying session off in style by qualifying at the top of the field with a sizzling 5.27 at 272 MPH. The pole position didn’t last however as Mia Tedesco grabbed the pole away from Duane in the second session so he had to settle for the second qualifying spot. “This was a hectic race for us. We lost a crankshaft after the first round of qualifying and had to switch engines. On the second pass something was out of adjustment but luckily we got it corrected before the first round of eliminations” Duane explained.
In round one, Duane faced a familiar opponent, Jackie Fricke. At the start, Fricke was out of the gate first but it didn’t take long for Duane to kick in the horsepower to get around her and pull ahead for the win. Duane recorded a 5.35 at 270 MPH win over Fricke’s 5.67 at 262 MPH. “We felt confident going into the first round that we would win but at the same time she had beat me twice so we didn’t take her lightly” Duane said.
Moving on to the second round, Duane took on his next foe, Wayne Morris. At the hit, Morris got a slight lead off the line but that didn’t last long as his third member broke. Meanwhile, Duane was off on another clean run and once again dropped into the 5.20 zone with a stellar 5.29 at 275 MPH for a birth into the semifinals. “We felt the car could have run quicker in round one so we stepped it up between rounds and the car responded well in round two” Duane said.
In the semis, Duane took on Jake Allen who had a thrash of his own as he had also broke a crank and didn't have time to start his car in the pits. As the lights came down Allen got off the line first with a very good 0.010 reaction time to Duane’s 0.099. Both cars were almost side by side as they approached the top end with Allan about a half of a car length ahead. At the finish line it was Allen scoring a hole shot victory with a 5.41 a 262 MPH over Duane’s quicker 5.36 at 271 MPH. “Since they had broke a crank in round two and didn’t have time to start it I was confident that we would likely win. But as we have seen before, our opponents always seem to run their best against us when they are in these types of situations. Our tune up was still a little too soft and we should have hopped it up more” Duane said.
Duane was certainly disappointed that he lost on a holeshot, but was philosophical about what had happened “We win together and lose together but obviously a holeshot is pinned on the driver. Every race is different and I was a little off this weekend but we will come back strong. We have one of the top cars in the class and I’m already looking forward to another chance at getting a win for PEAK at the next race" Duane said.
Duane would like to thank PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for supporting the team in 2015.
After a rain delay that canceled racing on Friday, Duane started Saturday’s qualifying session off in style by qualifying at the top of the field with a sizzling 5.27 at 272 MPH. The pole position didn’t last however as Mia Tedesco grabbed the pole away from Duane in the second session so he had to settle for the second qualifying spot. “This was a hectic race for us. We lost a crankshaft after the first round of qualifying and had to switch engines. On the second pass something was out of adjustment but luckily we got it corrected before the first round of eliminations” Duane explained.
In round one, Duane faced a familiar opponent, Jackie Fricke. At the start, Fricke was out of the gate first but it didn’t take long for Duane to kick in the horsepower to get around her and pull ahead for the win. Duane recorded a 5.35 at 270 MPH win over Fricke’s 5.67 at 262 MPH. “We felt confident going into the first round that we would win but at the same time she had beat me twice so we didn’t take her lightly” Duane said.
Moving on to the second round, Duane took on his next foe, Wayne Morris. At the hit, Morris got a slight lead off the line but that didn’t last long as his third member broke. Meanwhile, Duane was off on another clean run and once again dropped into the 5.20 zone with a stellar 5.29 at 275 MPH for a birth into the semifinals. “We felt the car could have run quicker in round one so we stepped it up between rounds and the car responded well in round two” Duane said.
In the semis, Duane took on Jake Allen who had a thrash of his own as he had also broke a crank and didn't have time to start his car in the pits. As the lights came down Allen got off the line first with a very good 0.010 reaction time to Duane’s 0.099. Both cars were almost side by side as they approached the top end with Allan about a half of a car length ahead. At the finish line it was Allen scoring a hole shot victory with a 5.41 a 262 MPH over Duane’s quicker 5.36 at 271 MPH. “Since they had broke a crank in round two and didn’t have time to start it I was confident that we would likely win. But as we have seen before, our opponents always seem to run their best against us when they are in these types of situations. Our tune up was still a little too soft and we should have hopped it up more” Duane said.
Duane was certainly disappointed that he lost on a holeshot, but was philosophical about what had happened “We win together and lose together but obviously a holeshot is pinned on the driver. Every race is different and I was a little off this weekend but we will come back strong. We have one of the top cars in the class and I’m already looking forward to another chance at getting a win for PEAK at the next race" Duane said.
Duane would like to thank PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for supporting the team in 2015.
