Pedersons become first father-daughter duo to record River Cities wins on same night

By Mike Spieker

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (July 27, 2018) – Friday night’s races at River Cities Speedway was one for the history books. Joey and Kelsi Pederson became the first father-daughter duo to visit RydellCars.com Victory Lane on the same night in track history.

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​Joey led every lap of the Performance Auto Late Model feature en route to the win. Mike Balcaen seemed to be a touch faster, but he couldn’t get through the lapped traffic as well as Pederson.

Kelsi, who was competing with the NLSA Lightning Sprints, also led every lap of her feature.

“To win on the same night as either one of my kids, that’s a special night,” said an elated Joey Pederson in victory lane. “My son, Tucker, is knocking on the door to getting his first feature win too, but I have to remember he’s only 14. He’s still cutting his teeth… but this is a special night,”

Female drivers went one-two in the Lightning Sprint feature as Presley Truedson finished in the second spot.

WISSOTA Midwest Modified national championship contender, Lance Schill of Langdon, notched his fourth River Cities Speedway win of the season. Schill started sixth on the grid, but sliced his way through the field to take the lead on lap three.

Once out front, Schill never looked back as he cruised to the win by more than two seconds over Jamie Dietzler. Matt Schow, Scott Bintz and Eric Haugland rounded out the top five.

The race was red flagged on lap seven after third place runner, Cole Haugland, got upside down. It appeared as though something broke on Haugland’s No. 10C machine, which sent him off the turn two banking at a high rate of speed. Haugland’s car tumbled as his came down on the other side of the banking, but he was okay.

The WISSOTA Modifieds made another appearance at the Bullring with 18 teams checked in. Ward Imrie of Winnipeg, Manitoba took the feature win. Dustin Strand had a commanding lead on the field until his No. 71 machine slowed with five laps to go. Strand retired from the event as Imrie held off Scott Greer to take the win.

Dustin Wahl, Aaron Holtan, and 15th place starter, Ryan Kereluk rounded out the top five.

Defending Wells Concrete Street Stock champion, Ryan Johnson, cruised to yet another feature win. The Karlstad, Minn. driver started 12th on the grid, but methodically moved his way to the front of the field. Dan McNamee and Doug VanMill showed the way for the majority of the event, but had their hands full with Johnson in the closing stages.

Johnson got by VanMill with six to go, then made the pass for the lead, and ultimately the win, on McNamee with four to go. Eleventh place starter, Daniel Aberle, stole second on the final lap as VanMill took third. McNamee and James Meagher rounded out the top five.

The Premier Racing Series returns to River Cities Speedway next Friday, featuring the Buffalo Wild Wings NOSA Sprints, WISSOTA Late Models, Midwest Mods and Street Stocks. Green flag drops at 7pm.

SUMMARY
WISSOTA Late Models:A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 7P-Joey Pederson, [1]; 2. 10-Mike Balcaen, [4]; 3. 71-Dustin Strand, [5]; 4. T1-Tom Corcoran, [7]; 5. 12S-Brad Seng, [9]; 6. 2-Bill Mooney, [13]; 7. 1R-Travis Robertson, [2]; 8. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [6]; 9. 9-Steve Anderson, [8]; 10. 4-Shane Edginton, [3]; 11. 4C-Ryan Corbett, [16]; 12. 11-Troy Schill, [10]; 13. 33-Ryan Dahl, [17]; 14. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [15]; 15. 345-Bryce Reimer, [12]; 16. (DNF) F9-Brandon Fuller, [11]; 17. (DNF) 2D-Don Platow, [18]; 18. (DNF) 6X-Bryce Beck, [14]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand, [2]; 2. 4-Shane Edginton, [1]; 3. 9-Steve Anderson, [3]; 4. 11-Troy Schill, [6]; 5. 2-Bill Mooney, [5]; 6. 4C-Ryan Corbett, [4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Brody Troftgruben, [2]; 2. 7P-Joey Pederson, [3]; 3. 12S-Brad Seng, [4]; 4. F9-Brandon Fuller, [1]; 5. 6X-Bryce Beck, [5]; 6. 33-Ryan Dahl, [6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Mike Balcaen, [2]; 2. 1R-Travis Robertson, [4]; 3. T1-Tom Corcoran, [3]; 4. 345-Bryce Reimer, [1]; 5. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [5]; 6. 2D-Don Platow, [6]
WISSOTA Modifieds:A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 10W-Ward Imrie, [9]; 2. 5G-Scott Greer, [1]; 3. 74-Dustin Wahl, [3]; 4. 2-Aaron Holtan, [8]; 5. 29K-Ryan Kereluk, [15]; 6. 17-Lance Schill, [10]; 7. 27-Chris Unrau, [18]; 8. 5P-Ryan Pommerer, [12]; 9. 57T-Michael Tiani, [17]; 10. 3-Keith Keena, [16]; 11. 88-Chad Dyrdahl, [5]; 12. 77R-Ryan Schroeder, [4]; 13. 57-Blake Higginbotham, [14]; 14. (DNF) 71-Dustin Strand, [2]; 15. (DNF) 81-Jordan Duray, [11]; 16. (DNF) 39-Shawn Teunis, [7]; 17. (DNF) 73P-Rene Poluyko, [13]; 18. (DNF) 92-Justin Bronk, [6]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 39-Shawn Teunis, [1]; 2. 2-Aaron Holtan, [5]; 3. 74-Dustin Wahl, [3]; 4. 17-Lance Schill, [6]; 5. 73P-Rene Poluyko, [4]; 6. 3-Keith Keena, [2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Dustin Strand, [5]; 2. 88-Chad Dyrdahl, [2]; 3. 92-Justin Bronk, [3]; 4. 81-Jordan Duray, [6]; 5. 57-Blake Higginbotham, [1]; 6. 57T-Michael Tiani, [4]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 5G-Scott Greer, [2]; 2. 77R-Ryan Schroeder, [1]; 3. 10W-Ward Imrie, [6]; 4. 5P-Ryan Pommerer, [4]; 5. 29K-Ryan Kereluk, [3]; 6. 27-Chris Unrau, [5]
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:A Feature (18 Laps): 1. 17S-Lance Schill, [6]; 2. 39-Jamie Dietzler, [2]; 3. 2S-Matt Schow, [7]; 4. 1S-Scott Bintz, [10]; 5. 32-Eric Haugland, [5]; 6. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [11]; 7. 16-Randy Thompson, [3]; 8. 5C-Preston Carr, [12]; 9. 111-Jason Halverson, [16]; 10. 44-Austin Hunter, [8]; 11. 28S-Ryan Schow, [23]; 12. 57-Nathan Raasakka, [4]; 13. 25A-Jesse Aho, [18]; 14. 4H-Grant Hall, [21]; 15. 87-Chris Kruk, [17]; 16. B0-Jory Berg, [24]; 17. 01-Zach Bruer, [20]; 18. 22S-Tyler Schow, [13]; 19. 23-Scott Vasichek, [14]; 20. 77B-Logan Bauer, [19]; 21. (DNF) 8-Jason Schuh, [9]; 22. (DNF) 188-Hunter Hougard, [15]; 23. (DNF) 10C-Cole Haugland, [1]; 24. (DNF) 96L-Jeremy Lizakowski, [22]
B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 4H-Grant Hall, [2]; 2. 96L-Jeremy Lizakowski, [6]; 3. 28S-Ryan Schow, [1]; 4. B0-Jory Berg, [5]; 5. 00-Steve Hougard, [4]; 6. (DNF) 3-Adam Unrau, [3]; (DNS) 96-Brent Loftsgard,
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17S-Lance Schill, [1]; 2. 44-Austin Hunter, [3]; 3. 8-Jason Schuh, [2]; 4. 22S-Tyler Schow, [4]; 5. 87-Chris Kruk, [6]; 6. 28S-Ryan Schow, [7]; 7. B0-Jory Berg, [5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Randy Thompson, [2]; 2. 10C-Cole Haugland, [4]; 3. 1S-Scott Bintz, [5]; 4. 23-Scott Vasichek, [1]; 5. 25A-Jesse Aho, [3]; 6. 4H-Grant Hall, [6]; 7. 96L-Jeremy Lizakowski, [7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Eric Haugland, [4]; 2. 57-Nathan Raasakka, [6]; 3. 87S-Reise Stenberg, [7]; 4. 188-Hunter Hougard, [5]; 5. 77B-Logan Bauer, [2]; 6. 3-Adam Unrau, [3]; 7. (DNF) 96-Brent Loftsgard, [1]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 39-Jamie Dietzler, [1]; 2. 2S-Matt Schow, [5]; 3. 5C-Preston Carr, [2]; 4. 111-Jason Halverson, [4]; 5. 01-Zach Bruer, [6]; 6. 00-Steve Hougard, [3]

WISSOTA Street Stocks:A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 25-Ryan Johnson, [12]; 2. 33-Daniel Aberle, [11]; 3. 8T-Doug VanMill, [1]; 4. 29-Dan McNamee, [2]; 5. 7-James Meagher, [5]; 6. 539-Aaron Blacklance, [16]; 7. 48-Chase Boen, [4]; 8. 3-Steven Richards, [10]; 9. 18B-Adam Burrows, [3]; 10. 35-John Halvorson, [6]; 11. 27P-Tucker Pederson, [8]; 12. 28-Greg Jose, [15]; 13. 5P-Ryan Pommerer, [21]; 14. 3L-Zach Lee, [7]; 15. 99-Josh Barker, [9]; 16. 5-Bradon Miller, [19]; 17. 10-Thomas Neihart, [24]; 18. 24T-Tiffany Noreikis, [18]; 19. 21J-Brian Johanson, [22]; 20. 9-Jason Rethemeier, [23]; 21. (DNF) 1M-Nicholas Minske, [13]; 22. (DNF) 4-Trey Hess, [14]; 23. (DNF) 17-Casey Vargason, [20]; 24. (DNF) 03-Bryce Reimer, [17]
B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5P-Ryan Pommerer, [4]; 2. 21J-Brian Johanson, [6]; 3. 9-Jason Rethemeier, [2]; 4. 10-Thomas Neihart, [5]; 5. 9A-Blake Anderson, [7]; 6. 92-Megan McNamee, [1]; 7. (DNF) 7B-David Barker, [3]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 27P-Tucker Pederson, [2]; 2. 48-Chase Boen, [1]; 3. 99-Josh Barker, [4]; 4. 1M-Nicholas Minske, [7]; 5. 03-Bryce Reimer, [6]; 6. 92-Megan McNamee, [5]; 7. (DNF) 21J-Brian Johanson, [3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 8T-Doug VanMill, [1]; 2. 3L-Zach Lee, [3]; 3. 3-Steven Richards, [5]; 4. 4-Trey Hess, [6]; 5. 24T-Tiffany Noreikis, [2]; 6. 9-Jason Rethemeier, [4]; 7. (DNF) 9A-Blake Anderson, [7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 35-John Halvorson, [1]; 2. 29-Dan McNamee, [3]; 3. 33-Daniel Aberle, [4]; 4. 28-Greg Jose, [5]; 5. 5-Bradon Miller, [6]; 6. 7B-David Barker, [2]; 7. 10-Thomas Neihart, [7]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 18B-Adam Burrows, [1]; 2. 7-James Meagher, [3]; 3. 25-Ryan Johnson, [5]; 4. 539-Aaron Blacklance, [6]; 5. 17-Casey Vargason, [2]; 6. 5P-Ryan Pommerer, [4]

NLSA Lightning Sprints:A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 93-Kelsi Pederson, [1]; 2. 2T-Presley Truedson, [3]; 3. 17K-Zachary Kwiatkoski, [2]; 4. 2-Mike Schmiedeberg, [7]; 5. 13-Alan Truscinski, [5]; 6. 10-Alex Truscinski, [10]; 7. 16-Josh Abrahamson, [6]; 8. 79-Clifford Steyn, [4]; 9. 1W-Mark Williams, [12]; 10. 21-Steve Hildebrand, [13]; 11. 100-Jason Berg, [11]; 12. (DNF) 4-Eric Johnson, [8]; 13. (DNF) 11-Dexter Dvergsten, [9]; 14. (DNF) 40-Lawrence Veralrud, [15]; 15. (DNF) 22H-Dylan Herman, [14]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2T-Presley Truedson, [2]; 2. 13-Alan Truscinski, [1]; 3. 16-Josh Abrahamson, [4]; 4. 2-Mike Schmiedeberg, [6]; 5. 100-Jason Berg, [3]; 6. 10-Alex Truscinski, [8]; 7. 21-Steve Hildebrand, [7]; 8. (DNF) 22H-Dylan Herman, [5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17K-Zachary Kwiatkoski, [2]; 2. 79-Clifford Steyn, [5]; 3. 93-Kelsi Pederson, [6]; 4. 11-Dexter Dvergsten, [3]; 5. 4-Eric Johnson, [7]; 6. 1W-Mark Williams, [4]; (DNS) 40-Lawrence Veralrud,