Shields Remains Undefeated In Englishtown

Shields Remains Undefeated In Englishtown

Englishtown NJ - The last time Duane Shields made an appearance at Englishtown was back in 2002 when he won both the national and the divisional titles in the same year. After a long absence, Shields picked up where he left off by winning the NHRA SuperNationals Top Alcohol Dragster title while winning his third race in a row. “We have won three races in three weeks so this is a great way to start our break” Shields said, referring to a month long break that will keep the Shortline Express team out of action until the JEGS All Star race in Chicago, July 7-10.

Shields qualified fourth in Englishlown with a 5.34 and was paired up with Ken Winward who qualified 13th. Winward got off of the starting line first with a 0.075 to Shields’ 0.097. Shields then cruised to an easy first round win after Winward experienced some engine problems. Shields recorded a 5.33 at 274 MPH to Winward’s 5.70 at 198.00. “Winward was on a great run until he pitched a blower belt” Shields acknowledged.

Since his second round opponent, Monroe Guest, had crashed on Saturday, Shields got a bye run and was able to throw some horsepower at the track. The effort was successful as Shields got low ET of the round with a 5.27 at 275 MPH. "We were stuck in the 30’s on Saturday so the bye run gave us a chance to hop-up the car on Sunday and get us into the 20’s” Shields said.

In the semifinals, Shield had his hands full as he took on the defending NHRA Champion, Bill Reichert. At the hit Reichert got out of the gate first with an 0.057 to Shields’ 0.068. Shields was able to get around Reichert and grabbed the win with another consistent pass. Shields stopped the clock with a 5.27 at 275 MPH to Reichert’s 5.37 at 255 MPH. “When you’re racing the Champ you have to be ready because he can step it up when he needs to. We hopped-up it up because we knew the track was getting better and could hold more power” Shields said.

The track was indeed getting better with every round so the Shortline Express crew lead by Dana Hopewell chose to step it up in the final round as they faced East Coast veteran, Mike Kosky. At the green Kosky got a sizable starting line advantage with an 0.030 to Shields’ 0.102. But by the eighth mile mark Shields pulled ahead and outran Kosky the rest of the way. Shields took the NHRA SuperNationals crown with a new track record of 5.20 at 277 MPH. Kosky, who has been to the final round in Englishtown for the last three years, recorded a 5.47 at 262 MPH for runner-up honors. “This was a great win as everything worked out well. Both Bill and Chris were sick so we had to pull through” Shields said after the big win.

Shields would like to thank his crew and sponsors Hussey Copper and NGK Spark Plugs.