rocketman
Nitro Member
Hot off his impressive finish at the NHRA Nationals in Reading, Duane Shields won the NHRA Lucas Oil Regional event in Gainesville, Florida. It was a well deserved win for the PEAK Team and the third time they have won in Gainesville this year when you add in the NHRA Gatornationals and the Houston make up race which was also contested there.
Duane qualified sixth in the eight car field with a 5.49 at 264 MPH and faced Jared Dreher in the round one of eliminations. As the lights came down on the tree, Dreher was first out of the gate but his chances of a victory went up in smoke as he began to lose traction. Meanwhile, Duane was on a clean run and passed him before mid track. At the finish line, Duane stopped the clock with his quickest pass of the weekend, a 5.42 at 269 MPH to Dreher's 6.21 at 254 MPH.
In the semifinals, Duane's opponent was Jeff Veale. Veale was out first with an impressive 0.021 light but Veale beat himself when his engine's headers dumped too much raw fuel on the car's slicks which caused traction problems. Duane made another clean and consistent run right down Broadway to earn a trip to the final round. The PEAK A/Fuel Dragster posted a 5.44 at 269 MPH to Veale's aborted run. "The semifinal round was critical because we were able to leap over Jeff Veale for third place in the region and it decided the Regional Championship which Jackie Fricke won. Duane explained.
In the final round, Duane raced against east coast regular John Finke. As the cars left the starting line it was Duane out of the gate first with Finke not far behind. Duane once again stymied the competition with another consistent cruise missile pass. Duane took the Gainesville victory convincingly with 5.48 at 266.64 to Finke's 5.63 at 254 MPH. "We got a win and that's always fun. But the track was marginal at best so the key was to motor down the track consistently without smoking the tires" Duane said.
Duane's momentum and consistency has him optimistic as the NHRA tour heads to the Southwest. "We are running better this year so we'll see what happens at the next two events in Las Vegas which is our home track". Duane would like to thank, PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for all of their continued support.
Duane qualified sixth in the eight car field with a 5.49 at 264 MPH and faced Jared Dreher in the round one of eliminations. As the lights came down on the tree, Dreher was first out of the gate but his chances of a victory went up in smoke as he began to lose traction. Meanwhile, Duane was on a clean run and passed him before mid track. At the finish line, Duane stopped the clock with his quickest pass of the weekend, a 5.42 at 269 MPH to Dreher's 6.21 at 254 MPH.
In the semifinals, Duane's opponent was Jeff Veale. Veale was out first with an impressive 0.021 light but Veale beat himself when his engine's headers dumped too much raw fuel on the car's slicks which caused traction problems. Duane made another clean and consistent run right down Broadway to earn a trip to the final round. The PEAK A/Fuel Dragster posted a 5.44 at 269 MPH to Veale's aborted run. "The semifinal round was critical because we were able to leap over Jeff Veale for third place in the region and it decided the Regional Championship which Jackie Fricke won. Duane explained.
In the final round, Duane raced against east coast regular John Finke. As the cars left the starting line it was Duane out of the gate first with Finke not far behind. Duane once again stymied the competition with another consistent cruise missile pass. Duane took the Gainesville victory convincingly with 5.48 at 266.64 to Finke's 5.63 at 254 MPH. "We got a win and that's always fun. But the track was marginal at best so the key was to motor down the track consistently without smoking the tires" Duane said.
Duane's momentum and consistency has him optimistic as the NHRA tour heads to the Southwest. "We are running better this year so we'll see what happens at the next two events in Las Vegas which is our home track". Duane would like to thank, PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for all of their continued support.
