Chestnut Eats 28 Krystals in Two Minutes

Joey Chestnut visited Chattanooga today and downed 28 of Krystal’s famous hamburgers in two minutes, a new short course record.

Chestnut, who is also the American record holder in the eight–minute Krystal eating contest (62 Krystals), attended a press conference to kick off the 2006 Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship circuit.

The 2006 Krystal Square Off finals will occur on October 28 in Chattanooga and be televised live on ESPN.

At last year's Krystal Square Off Chestnut rocked the competitive eating world by leading Takeru Kobayashi for seven of the contest’s eight minutes, only to lose ground in the waning seconds of the eight-minute contest.

“Today, right here in Chattanooga, Joey Chesnut has proven that he has the strongest jaws in America and the quickest first bite in the world," said George Shea, chair of the International Federation of Competitive Eating.

Billed in its third year as Krystal Square Off III, the three-month long qualifying circuit and championship hamburger-eating event will officially get underway on Aug. 24, 2006, in Chattanooga, Tenn., with the first of eight circuit qualifiers. From there, the road to the top burger title will journey through seven more cities across the South with each city sending its winner to the world championship final in Chattanooga on Oct. 28, 2006, where competitors will battle for the title and one of the richest purses in the sport of competitive eating.

Additional info is available at www.krystalsquareoff.com