GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Joey Saldana had never been to River Cities Speedway before Friday night, but that didn’t stop him from setting the fastest time, winning the first heat, winning the dash and leading all 40 laps en route to his eighth World of Outlaws victory of the season.
Saldana held off a furious charge by Jac Haudenschild over the last two laps to earn the $10,000 payday by .056 second, marking the third-closest finish of 2007.
Point-leader Donny Schatz, who battled Saldana for most of the race, finished third, with Danny Lasoski fourth and Kerry Madsen fifth.
“It was a good run for us,” said Saldana, driver of the Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI. “I had never been here before, and to set fast time and win the heat, dash and feature is huge for me and this team.”
While Saldana led, Haudenschild steadily made his way to the front from 13th-starting position. It all came down to the last lap as the leaders worked lapped traffic.
“Going into turn three on the last lap, it was a guessing game and we came out on top, though I think we guessed wrong,” Saldana said. “I definitely needed the race to be over in 40 laps. I didn’t know where to go, and those guys were going every which way. I got to the lapped cars and I could run through the middle, but I didn’t want to try it out in the open.”
Haudenschild began the night by getting upside down in the third heat.
“The guys had the car going good after the heat race,” Haudenschild said. “They put the car together pretty well, and we passed some cars. We were good just about anywhere on the race track.”