Gainesville Hot Streak Ends for Top Qualifier Duane Shields at Gatornationals

Discussion in 'Alcohol Racing News' started by News Editor, Mar 17, 2015.

  1. News Editor

    News Editor Administrator

    Joined:
    Jan 13, 2007
    Messages:
    1,049
    Likes Received:
    6
    Gainesville Hot Streak Ends for Top Qualifier Duane Shields at Gatornationals

    Gainesville, FL - Red-hot Duane Shields, who was arguably favored to reach another final round appearance at the NHRA Gatornationals, lost in the second round. The defending Gatornationals champion, who has won the last four national and regional titles in Gainesville, was again on his game until the parachute shook loose which slowed Duane enough to get knocked out of eliminations early. “We overestimated the track and gave the car too much power when it didn’t need it. That lead to the 'chute vibrating out,” Duane explained.

    In qualifying, Duane once again served notice that the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster was the car to beat as he qualified in the number one position with a remarkable 5.24 at 275 MPH to lead the field. This set up a first round meeting with Cherissa Griffis-Smallwood, who qualified in the 16th position.

    As the lights came down in the opening round, Griffis-Smallwood crossed the starting line first but then lost traction and smoked the tires. Meanwhile, Duane made another clean run as he stopped the clock with a 5.40 at 271 MPH to move into the quarterfinal round.

    In between rounds, the PEAK team decided to get more aggressive with the tune-up before Duane faced Jackie Fricke. At the starting line both cars were virtually out of the gate together with Fricke getting the advantage by only .001 of a second. Duane quickly got in command of the lead and was ahead at half track when the chute vibrated out of the pack and slowed the car down. Fricke took over the lead and crossed the stripe first with a 5.31 to Duane’s 5.88. “The car left like a rocket but it shook real hard and when I went to pedal it was too late since the chute had already popped out because of the violent vibration,” Duane said.

    Duane defended his reasoning for going with a more aggressive tune up. “Most of the match-ups were equal and you could not put a soft tune-up in the car and expect to win. We were trying to get another win for PEAK. Right now, we have a very competitive race car and we’ll move on from this and get ready for the next race."


    Duane wanted to congratulate Randy Meyer for winning the event while thanking his sponsors: PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for supporting the team in 2015.
     
    #1

Share This Page