Shields Wins Second Straight Gatornationals Title

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    Shields Wins Second Straight Gatornationals Title
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    Gainesville Florida - It's not a big secrete that Duane Shields and theShortline Express A/Fuel Dragster team has been red hot and have only lostone round of racing so far in this young season. But that was on thedivisional side of the equation. Now, the team got put to the test as theycompeted at their first national event of the year in Gainesville, March12-14. And the end result was just what they were looking for as theysuccessfully defended their NHRA Gatornationals title in the Top AlcoholDragster category.

    Shields and his crew is excited about pulling off the big repeat win."We're very excited to get the win as every round seemed like a final round.Each team that we faced was very capable of winning the event"Shields said after securing the victory.

    Shields qualified second with a respectable 5.23 at 274 MPH which meant hewould face the number 15 qualifier Michael Manners, who is capable ofrunning some big numbers. Shields was out of the gate first with an 0.063 toManner's 0.070 but the first round turned out to be anticlimactic as Mannerslost traction and had to lift early.Meanwhile, Shields was on another consistent run stopping the clocks with a5.34 at 266 MPH.

    Moving on to the second round, Shields took on Monroe Guest. At the light,Guest got off the line first with a good 0.024 reaction time to Shields'0.064. Shields managed to get out in front of Guest, but had to pedal itonce as he experienced bad tire shake. The tire shake didn't effect theoutcome of the race for Shields as he crossed the stripe first with a 5.30at 273 MPH. Guest was right behind recording a 5.41 at 266 MPH to end hisday.

    Back in the pits, the Shortline Express crew did an inspection of thechassis and noticed a crack close to where the wheelie bar bolts in.While the team serviced the car, fellow competitor Randy Meyer whom Shieldsraced in the finals at Atlanta welded up the chassis. Shields best describedthe moments leading up to the semifinal round as "controlled" even thoughthere was a lot of work to get done between rounds.

    In the semifinals, Shields opponent was none other than Marty Thacker.Thacker is one of the best blown alcohol racers in the sport but this timearound he was having difficultly holding the car at the starting line as itwas creeping farther into the beam after staging. As a result, Thacker redlit. Shields put together another consistent run beginning with an 0.044light and finished it off with an elapsed time of 5.37 at 271 MPH. "All ofthe cars in the semifinals were evenly matched, and any of them could havewon. We're trying to work with the car as the weather warms up. I was alittle disappointed that the car slowed down in the semi finals" Shields mentioned.

    In the final round, Shields took on Darren Nicholson whom Shields already met in the finals once this season. At the hit, Nicholson left the linefirst with a 0.014 reaction time to Shields' 0.066. But just 60 feet outShields flew by as Nicholson lost power after shredding a blower belt.Shields then claimed his second Gatornationals win in a row with aconvincing 5.36 at 267 MPH. "We've won three out of four races. That's theway I like it" Shields said after the event.

    The Shortline Express team will take the next three weeks off until the nextrace on the schedule, the O'Reilly Spring Nationals, April9-11 in Baytown, Texas near Houston. "I'm looking forward to racing inBaytown as we always do well there" Shields said. The Shortline team wouldlike to thank their sponsors Hussey Copper and NGK Spark Plugs.
     
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