Reading PA - Duane Shields in the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster won his second NHRA Lucas Oil Regional event of the season. This time the win came at Maple Grove Raceway over the memorial day weekend where he beat Doug Foley in the final round.
The win was much needed after an unscheduled stop in Norwalk, Ohio the week prior where the team experienced a first round defeat. “We decided to go into Reading a day early and test which paid off for us as we were able to rebound” Duane said. The PEAK team found the results they were looking for in testing as they ran an impressive 5.21 at 278 MPH. But the team fell off slightly due to an electrical problem in qualifying and ended up sixth with a 5.35 at 273 MPH.
In round one, Duane took on Richard Bourke. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the track’s staging lights so the cars were allowed to cool down and refuel before returning to the starting line once the issue was resolved. At the hit, Duane was out of the box first with an .068 to Bourke’s .102. That was all it took as Duane had Bourke covered by a country mile with a victorious 5.41 at 271 MPH to Bourke’s 5.51 at 257 MPH.
In the semi-final round, Duane took on Jackie Fricke. Both cars left nearly at the same time with Fricke getting a very slight edge. However, Duane was on a very good pass and clicked off a competitive 5.27 at 274 MPH to take the win over Fricke’s honorable 5.32 at 268 MPH. “This was a big match up for us as Jackie was leading the points going into the round. We were able to make up a lot of ground by getting the win in the semis” Duane said.
In the final round, Duane faced off with former Top Fuel pilot Doug Foley. As the lights came down, Duane left on Foley with an .074 to Foley’s .080. Duane was on another clean pass and took the stripe with a sizzling 5.25 at 275 MPH to take home the Wally. Meanwhile, Foley had traction problems and shut off early with a 7.62 at 113 MPH. “We tuned the car up in the finals to make it more aggressive and it worked. This is a great win for our team and now we go on to Chicago, PEAK’s home town for the Route 66 Nationals” Duane said after the win.
The PEAK team is now in first place in both the year long national points chase and also leads the Eastern Regional points series going into Chicago this coming weekend. Duane would like to thank his sponsors PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their continued support.
The win was much needed after an unscheduled stop in Norwalk, Ohio the week prior where the team experienced a first round defeat. “We decided to go into Reading a day early and test which paid off for us as we were able to rebound” Duane said. The PEAK team found the results they were looking for in testing as they ran an impressive 5.21 at 278 MPH. But the team fell off slightly due to an electrical problem in qualifying and ended up sixth with a 5.35 at 273 MPH.
In round one, Duane took on Richard Bourke. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the track’s staging lights so the cars were allowed to cool down and refuel before returning to the starting line once the issue was resolved. At the hit, Duane was out of the box first with an .068 to Bourke’s .102. That was all it took as Duane had Bourke covered by a country mile with a victorious 5.41 at 271 MPH to Bourke’s 5.51 at 257 MPH.
In the semi-final round, Duane took on Jackie Fricke. Both cars left nearly at the same time with Fricke getting a very slight edge. However, Duane was on a very good pass and clicked off a competitive 5.27 at 274 MPH to take the win over Fricke’s honorable 5.32 at 268 MPH. “This was a big match up for us as Jackie was leading the points going into the round. We were able to make up a lot of ground by getting the win in the semis” Duane said.
In the final round, Duane faced off with former Top Fuel pilot Doug Foley. As the lights came down, Duane left on Foley with an .074 to Foley’s .080. Duane was on another clean pass and took the stripe with a sizzling 5.25 at 275 MPH to take home the Wally. Meanwhile, Foley had traction problems and shut off early with a 7.62 at 113 MPH. “We tuned the car up in the finals to make it more aggressive and it worked. This is a great win for our team and now we go on to Chicago, PEAK’s home town for the Route 66 Nationals” Duane said after the win.
The PEAK team is now in first place in both the year long national points chase and also leads the Eastern Regional points series going into Chicago this coming weekend. Duane would like to thank his sponsors PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their continued support.
