Shortline Express Team Gains Ground Towards the National Championship in Houston
Houston - Duane Shields returned to the national event stage in Houston at the 21st annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil. This was a race dominated by the A/Fuel Dragsters as all but two of the 22 cars entered utilized an injected nitro engine. Leading the pack was Duane Shields who once again took the pole for his third race in a row with a stout 5.20 elapsed time at 277 MPH.
In the first round of eliminations, Shields took on David Brounkowski, of Cypress TX. Unfortunately for Brounkowski, Shields got a single as Brounkowski broke prior to staging the car. Shields went for it and posted a 5.56 at 270 MPH solo pass.
Going into the second round Shields drew Diana Harker. At the light Shields got the edge with an 0.019 reaction time to Harker's 0.031 but that's as far as the race got as Harker had problems and coasted through with an 8.41. Shields meanwhile flew through the traps with the quickest ET of the round by recording an awesome 5.27 at 272 MPH.
Moving on to the semifinals, Shields had to get by Brandon Lewis, the popular second year driver from Broken Arrow Oklahoma. Lewis gave Shields all he could handle with a 5.36 at 263 MPH to Shields' slightly quicker 5.35 at 272 MPH. But it was Shields' 0.032 reaction time to Lewis' 0.049 that was the contributing factor in the race which helped advance Shields to the money round.
In the Finals, Shields faced off with fellow Nevada racer Randy Eakins for one dandy of a drag race. It was a close race as both cars ran identical 5.392 ETs. Like the semifinals, this race was decided on the line. This time it was Shields' opponent that got the starting line advantage. Eakins left first with an 0.026 to Shields' 0.107 to capture his first ever national event win.
After the event, Shields reflected on the loss. “Going into the final round we had a valve problem and didn't have time to fix it resulting in the slower time. But Randy Eakins had done a great job driving all day, winning every race on a holeshot and won the event in memory of Marge Edgecombe, which gave the group an emotional win”.
Even though he didn't win the event, Shields had a very productive day too. He entered the Houston event in third place in the Lucas Oil national point standings and collected some much needed points towards the Championship. He now leaves Houston in second place, just 20 points behind points leader John Finke.
