Kelsi Makes NLRA History in Golden Hammer Podium Finish

EAST GRAND FORKS, Minn. (June 15, 2025) - In a remarkable rebound from a tough couple of weeks as a Late Model rookie, Kelsi Pederson won her heat race and pulled even with three-time WISSOTA national champion Chad Becker on a green-white-checkered restart to become the highest finishing Female driver in Northern Late Model Racing Association history Saturday night during the 7th annual Walhalla Builders Golden Hammer Classic at Devils Lake Speedway near Crary, North Dakota.

Following a rough night at River Cities where Kelsi drove to a transfer spot despite the right door being ripped off of her No. 93 Invision Ag / North Dakota Eye Clinic MB Custom, she grabbed a transfer spot and finished 23rd on Friday night at River Cities.

Still not completely happy with the car Saturday night at the beginning of a 43-car, Seitz Memorial style field at the the Golden Hammer Classic at Devils Lake Speedway, Kelsi and the crew made changes after hot laps and started fourth in her heat race, the fifth of six heats of the night.

From there, she passed each of the three cars that started in front of her and won the heat, becoming the third female driver in NLRA series history to win a heat race. 

Kamber Obregon from MaKenna Romuld’s family picked the no. 2 frisbee in the NLRA redraw, giving Kelsi a front row starting spot for the 40-lap main event.

Kelsi started the race to Dustin Strand’s outside and went three-wide with Strand and John Seng on the initial lap. Kelsi passed Seng on lap two and kept pace with Strand until a caution on lap eight.

On the restart, Kelsi battled door-to-door with three-time WISSOTA national champion Chad Becker for the runner-up spot but held off fellow rookie Matt Schow to remain in a podium spot, and at one point split a pair of lapped cars to put some insurance between her and Schow in the closing laps of the race.

A final caution as the leaders were looking at the white flag, set up a green-white-checkered finish.

Kelsi nosed ahead of Becker on the restart as the battle for second continued with Kelsi completing all 40 laps in a podium position, finishing on the heels of four national titles in Strand and Becker, and beating two-time John Seitz Memorial champion Don Shaw back to the line to finish third.

She reset the high-water mark for female drivers in the 28-year history of the NLRA Late Models, which was held by Amelia Eisenschenk with a seventh place run at Glyndon three years ago. Her heat win made her the third Female driver to win an NLRA heat, following Morgan Ward-Grosz and Amelia Eisenschenk.

Keep an eye on Pederson Racing on Facebook this week to see where the trio goes next.

2025 Results:
Joey:
Races: 9
Wins: 0
Top Fives: 4
Top Tens: 6

Kelsi:

Races: 9
Wins: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 4

Tucker:
Races: 9
Wins: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 5



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