PEAK Team Takes Pole Position at Four Wide Nationals

Charlotte - It was a seesaw battle for the pole position at the NHRA Four Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway and Duane Shields came out on top. Duane started out in the opening qualifying session in the number one position with a 5.34 at 275 MPH blast. In the second session, the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster rang up another 5.34 at 275 MPH but dropped one notch to second in the qualifying order. Then, in the final session Duane was back on top with a sizzling 5.29 @ 273 MPH. “The car is running good right now. We did some testing in Richmond prior to the rainout and took care of a few small problems that we noticed in Gainesville” Duane said.

Because Duane qualified in the pole position he was awarded a solo run in round one during eliminations. In the opening round, Duane made another impressive run scoring a 5.35 at 270 MPH which was low ET for the round.

In round two, Duane raced Justin Ashley from Plainview, NY. At the hit, Ashley got a slight advantage off the starting line with an .036 to Duane’s .043. “I had a close reaction time to his so we didn’t give him a lot to work with at the starting line”. Unfortunately for Duane, his car went up in smoke as it lost traction while Ashley was on a clean run and took the win. “It blind sided us! It was crushing to the whole team. I didn’t have to pedal it all weekend and the car got down the track smoothly on every pass. We didn’t change the tune up and the weather changed only slightly. The only thing that changed was the day. So, maybe the track went away on Sunday when we lost traction” Duane explained.

Next, the PEAK Team travels to Norwalk, Ohio for the Lucas Oil Regional event, May 19-21. “We’re certainly competitive and we can’t back it down because the competition is so tough. It’s just a matter of time before we break through and get a win” Duane predicted. Duane would like to thank his sponsors PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises.


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