Duane Shields Vegas wrap up

Shortline Express Team Experiences Difficult Weekend

Las Vegas - (November 8, 2008) -- All the way around, the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway just wasn't the homecoming Duane Shields and the Shortline Express team was hoping for. Before moving all the way up to the second position in a last ditch qualifying attempt, Shields' A/Fuel dragster was running a little off pace most of the weekend. But after all, this is one of the most difficult eight car fields to make it into as twice as many cars as usual from around the country make it to this race in order to pick up some last minute points, block a points leader, or simply because it's a convenient stop on the way to the last NHRA event of the year in Pomona California.

In the first round of qualifying, Shields ran a 5.43 at 255 MPH which was only good for the 10th position. In the second qualifying session, the car stayed in the 10th spot and was still not in the show with a 5.44 at 260 MPH. So like half of the Top Alcohol cars on the grounds, it all came down to the final round of qualifying. All eyes were on Shields; would he be able to dig deep and make a quick enough pass that would get him in the show? The answer was yes! The car made a great full pass down the Las Vagas strip and recorded a nice elapsed time of 5.32 at 271 MPH.

This set up a first round dual between Shields and Mark Niver. Niver has arguably become Shields' toughest opponents all year, and this time was no different as Niver scored a holeshot win over Shields. Niver got off the line first with an 0.089 reaction time to Shields' 0.162. Shields then tried to make up for lost time but ran out of race track with a 5.38 at 263 MPH and was unable to stop Niver's winning 5.40 at 262 MPH.

Now Shields will move on to Pomona this weekend and hopefully make up for the difficult loss at the famous California track.


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