Duane Shields' objective was simple: go to Charlotte for the NHRA Carolinas Nationals and win the
race. Unfortunately, in any competitive sport, things don't always go as planned but Shields did
continue to go rounds which will keep him in the hunt for the series championship but with fewer
races remaining. "This was a critical loss and narrows our chances of winning the championship and
now it depends on how the other teams still in contention do. So far they keep winning so it's
really out of our hands right now" Shields said.
Shields qualified fifth with a 5.44 at 249 MPH. This would set up a first round meeting with
Indiana's Jared Dreher. At the light it was Dreher out in front with a 0.02 reaction time to
Shields' respectable 0.08. However, Dreher's good reaction time wasn't enough for Shields' better
ET as Shields got it done with a 5.36 at 265 MPH to Dreher's 5.66 at 248 MPH. "We were able to get
the round in on Saturday before it started raining so that gave us a little more time to prepare
while some of the teams had to wait until Sunday. So, it worked in our favor" Shields explained.
In the second round Shields took on Dave Weber. Like Dreher, Weber cut a good light but it wouldn't
be enough to get past Shields. Weber got off the line with a solid 0.019 to Shields' 0.106 but
Weber ran into trouble when he began experiencing tire shake. Meanwhile, Shield's was on a mission
with his best run of the weekend, a 5.32 at 269 MPH to get the win over Weber's 5.96 at just 191
MPH.
For the fifth weekend in a row, Shields would move on to the semifinal round. This time, Shields
took on his nemesis of late, Ken Perry. Shields had lost to Perry in his last two losses and was
looking for revenge. At the light it was Perry out first with an 0.56 reaction time to Shields'
0.104. Perry was able to nip Shields in the lights by just a few feet with a 5.433 to Shields' very
close 5.404. "This is the third time in a row I have lost to Perry. I was distracted when I staged
and had a bad light or I would have beat him. We really needed the win to get the points but that's
life. It's been a while since I lost in a holeshot and the car is running good so were still happy
with how the season has unfolded" Shields said.
The Shortline Express team will skip the Dallas race and instead will focus on trying to pull off a
win at their home track, The Strip at Las Vegas. Shields explained his strategy "We usually do very
well in Dallas but we can't claim both Dallas and Las Vegas so I'd rather wait and let the points
drama unfold at my home track."
