Todd Rose | Daily Press Matt Maki (15) leads Brad Seppanen (56), Jamie Iverson (70), Matt Valiquette (53), Pat Richer (4) and Lonnie Dalgord (60) in the opening laps of the Sports Modified feature Saturday night at the Upper Peninsula International Raceway in Escanaba.

ESCANABA — The third week of racing at the Upper Peninsula International Raceway brought fans excitement in multiple forms — hard, clean racing and dust-ups in the dirt — Saturday night in Escanaba.

A week after going for a sidewinder tumble in turn four and missing last week’s feature, Charles Peterson (Rapid River) out-dueled Allan Yelle (Sands) to take the U.P. Vintage Modified feature race.

“It’s very fun to race with him,” said Peterson of his battle with Yelle. “(Two weeks ago), I had won that feature race dueling with Herb Iverson, and we’re all old men!”

The division plays host to many local legends like Iverson, Jake Valiquette and Jerry Olsen to name just a few.

Above all, the racing is clean, said Peterson.

“It’s lots of fun,” he said. “We don’t touch each other, we don’t bang on each other and I like that part of it.”

Peterson — who is also UPIR Track President — added a special thank you to his brothers who help him prepare the car while his time is spent juggling duties at and around the track.

“I have to thank my brothers. Both of my brothers are so much help,” he added. “They get my car ready, they fill it up with fuel, they check the air in the tires and they do a very good job.

Don Benoit (Escanaba) took the final step on the podium for the division in third.

In the Sportsman Micro Sprint feature, Brennan Swanson (Menominee) grabbed the lead from Chase Richer (Escanaba) and never looked back.

Swanson finished the race with a handy lead over Drak Degnan (Escanaba) and Tyler Demars (Green Bay, Wis.).

“(I feel) pretty good,” said Swanson. “The car actually ran real good. Last week the gears weren’t really good, and we didn’t really have the up-and-go on the straights. Then we went up two gears in the back, and we just started ripping.”

Wrapped up in one word, Swanson said the win was, ‘Awesome.”

The win gives the 13-year-old Swanson — who thanked his dad and his sponsors for their supports — a boost of momentum and confidence going forward.

“I feel like if we come out, if we leave everything alone, we’re going to win again,” he said.

Carson Artley, Karl Warm and Griffin Iverson — all of Escanaba — were the top three in the Riverside Auto Group Youth Micro Sprint feature. Artley managed both lapped traffic and a late-race restart to hold off Warm and Griffin Iverson and take the win.

In addition to a caution-free Sportsman race, three other feature races — 600 Micros Sprints, Super Vintage Modifieds and Bink’s Coca-Cola Sport Modifieds — went green to checkered with no cautions.

Kevin Warm (Escanaba), Dennis Ness (Gladstone) and Kyle Mayville (Escanaba) ran one, two, three in the 600 feature, Don Peterson (Rapid River), Scott Degnan (Escanaba) and Matt Valiquette (Menominee) were the top three for the Super Vintage Modifieds, while Jamie Iverson (Escanaba) took the Bink’s Coca-Cola Sport Modified feature ahead of Matt Maki (Rapid River) and Matt Valiquette.

The Street Stock and Island Resort Sport Compact features were slowed by the yellow flag numerous times. Both races were cut short due to the rash of cautions, with the Street Stocks distance being cut by a handful of laps and the Sport Compacts ending under yellow.

Only four cars finished the Street Stock feature that started with eight. Paul Wagner (Gladstone) kept his nose clean to take the win. In second and third were Ron Jenshak (Escanaba) and Tyler Winling (Escanaba), two drivers who seem to have a budding rivalry as a fair share of paint has been swapped between the two already this season.

Trever Cronick (Faithorn), Zach Gazda (Vulcan) and Ryan Mathieson (Escanaba) were the top three for the Sport Compact feature.

Up next for UPIR is one of its premier events, the Art Richer Memorial. Green flag is scheduled for 6 p.m. EST Saturday.