Joey Pederson Takes NLRA Late Model Win

6/20/2015

Wissota NLRA Late Model Race Recap.

Joey Pederson cruising through turn two during heat race action. Photo by Mike Spieker.

By Mike Spieker

GRAND FORKS, ND (June 19) - Joey Pederson has had the fastest Late Model in the field for the past couple of weeks at River Cities Speedway, but something has always inhibited him from getting the win and parking in RydellCars.com Victory Lane.

All that changed, however, Friday night in front of a packed grandstand during the World of Outlaw Sprint Car special. Pederson jumped out to the early lead over Mike Balcaen at the drop of the green flag and immediately opened up a five car length lead.

Dustin Strand and Brad Seng were on the charge as they battled with Donny Schatz, Matt Aukland, and Balcaen for position two through six.

The feature race was plagued with multiple cautions in the closing laps, which put a lot of quick cars right on Pederson's rear bumper.

"Honestly, I drove as hard as I dared," said Pederson of those final restarts. "Last week I was leading it, drove too hard, hit a rut, and ended up giving that race away. So I was driving as hard as I could, but I just didn't want to give another one away again."

Pederson held on to win his second race of 2015 and 32nd career feature at River Cities Speedway.

"It all worked out. I thought the track was pretty racy, but I didn't really know where to run. I felt like a sitting duck out there in the lead and I was trying to listen for guys if they were running high or low. I never saw anybody's nose so I don't know how close they were to me, but I was running scared for sure," concluded Pederson.