Reading, PA - Duane Shields won his second straight national event in a row by winning the NHRA Keystone Nationals which compliments his last win in Charlotte just two weeks ago.Duane and the PEAK crew headed up by Dana Hopewell qualified and won the event all in one day because of wet weather conditions that postponed most the classes until Sunday including qualifying. “It was a challenging race and my guys worked very hard. We made five runs between 10 this morning and 6 tonight. That’s a lot of racing in just one day” Duane said.
It was one shot qualifying with 19 cars trying to squeeze into a 16 car field and those that lost traction at the starting line would not have a second chance to make the field. Duane qualified in the middle of the pack with a 5.46 which was good for the ninth seed.
In round one, Duane faced Rich McPhillips who qualified eighth with a 5.45, so on paper it looked to be anyone’s race. Duane was off of the starting line first with an 0.072 to McPhillips’ 0.093. McPhillips gave Duane everything he had but Duane was on the quickest pass of the event so far and took the win with a blistering 5.26 at 272 MPH to McPhillips’ 5.33 at 273 MPH. “It was a good competitive race. Rich was chasing me for the Eastern Championship so I knew how good of a racer he is and I had to bring my A game. He is a tough opponent to have to race against in the first round” Duane said.
The competition continued to get tough as Duane faced the reining national champion, Chris Demke, who ran a 5.27 in round one. At the hit it was again Duane off the line first with an 0.062 to Demke’s close 0.064. It continued to be a close race all the way down the quarter mile track. But the two hot shots from round one both had some mechanical problems and were unable to repeat their prior performances. Duane suffered the least impact and took the win with a 5.50 at 262 MPH to Demke’s 5.56 at 267 MPH. "We had good rounds and a lucky round and this was my lucky round since Chris had mechanical problems at about the same time I did” Duane said.
Before the semi finals the PEAK team had to quickly replace one of the heads before racing John Finke. As the lights came down Duane once again left on his opponent with an 0.049 to Finke’s 0.091. Duane then charged to the finish line with an impressive 5.25 at 272 MPH to Finke’s respectable 5.32 at 259 MPH to grab the win.
In the final round the conditions had changed and the track was getting tight just as Duane took on Mia Tedesco for the victory. As has been the case throughout eliminations, Duane left on his opponent with a consistent 0.054 to Tedesco’s 0.059. Due to the changing conditions, Duane had to pedal but the car recovered nicely and he took the Keystone Nationals title with a 5.40 at 272 MPH to Tedesco’s 5.51 at 259 MPH. "The car shook real hard and I had to pedal it. But I was ready for it because I knew the conditions had changed. We won here in May at the regional event so it was good to come back and win here again at the nationals” Duane said.
Duane won the race in front of his cheering section, a group of friends and local fans who regularly come to each of his races at Maple Grove Raceway. “They were all here this weekend but it has been quite a long, drawn out event because of all the weather delays until today. But I’m glad they got to see us win” he said. Besides thanking his cheering section, Duane thanked his sponsors PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for supporting the team in 2015.
It was one shot qualifying with 19 cars trying to squeeze into a 16 car field and those that lost traction at the starting line would not have a second chance to make the field. Duane qualified in the middle of the pack with a 5.46 which was good for the ninth seed.
In round one, Duane faced Rich McPhillips who qualified eighth with a 5.45, so on paper it looked to be anyone’s race. Duane was off of the starting line first with an 0.072 to McPhillips’ 0.093. McPhillips gave Duane everything he had but Duane was on the quickest pass of the event so far and took the win with a blistering 5.26 at 272 MPH to McPhillips’ 5.33 at 273 MPH. “It was a good competitive race. Rich was chasing me for the Eastern Championship so I knew how good of a racer he is and I had to bring my A game. He is a tough opponent to have to race against in the first round” Duane said.
The competition continued to get tough as Duane faced the reining national champion, Chris Demke, who ran a 5.27 in round one. At the hit it was again Duane off the line first with an 0.062 to Demke’s close 0.064. It continued to be a close race all the way down the quarter mile track. But the two hot shots from round one both had some mechanical problems and were unable to repeat their prior performances. Duane suffered the least impact and took the win with a 5.50 at 262 MPH to Demke’s 5.56 at 267 MPH. "We had good rounds and a lucky round and this was my lucky round since Chris had mechanical problems at about the same time I did” Duane said.
Before the semi finals the PEAK team had to quickly replace one of the heads before racing John Finke. As the lights came down Duane once again left on his opponent with an 0.049 to Finke’s 0.091. Duane then charged to the finish line with an impressive 5.25 at 272 MPH to Finke’s respectable 5.32 at 259 MPH to grab the win.
In the final round the conditions had changed and the track was getting tight just as Duane took on Mia Tedesco for the victory. As has been the case throughout eliminations, Duane left on his opponent with a consistent 0.054 to Tedesco’s 0.059. Due to the changing conditions, Duane had to pedal but the car recovered nicely and he took the Keystone Nationals title with a 5.40 at 272 MPH to Tedesco’s 5.51 at 259 MPH. "The car shook real hard and I had to pedal it. But I was ready for it because I knew the conditions had changed. We won here in May at the regional event so it was good to come back and win here again at the nationals” Duane said.
Duane won the race in front of his cheering section, a group of friends and local fans who regularly come to each of his races at Maple Grove Raceway. “They were all here this weekend but it has been quite a long, drawn out event because of all the weather delays until today. But I’m glad they got to see us win” he said. Besides thanking his cheering section, Duane thanked his sponsors PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for supporting the team in 2015.
