Courtesy of UPIR Carson Artley cartwheels down the frontstretch during the first Riverside Auto Group Youth Micro Sprint heat race Saturday night during Bob Iverson Memorial Night at the Upper Peninsula International Raceway in Escanaba.

ESCANABA — The Riverside Auto Group Youth Micro Sprint feature race saw a fitting driver win for its spot on the card of Bob Iverson Memorial Night at the Upper Peninsula International Raceway Saturday night in Escanaba.

Griffin Iverson (Escanaba) — grandson of the Hyde Hustler — started fifth in the feature and charged his way to the front of the pack to take his third feature win of the season at UPIR.

The win, Griffin said, was a special one.

“I feel great (getting the win) because this was the Bob Iverson Memorial race, and he’s my grandpa,” said the young Iverson. “So, I really wanted to win it for him.”

After a “did not finish” last week, the victory was a much-needed rebound for Griffin as the points race begins to heat up in the latter stages of the season.

But, as the laps ticked away, Griffin had two things on his mind.

“I was thinking about who’s behind and if the car would break down,” he said. “It felt really good (to recover from the DNF).”

Karl Warm (Escanaba) and Carson Artley (Escanaba) — who came together in their heat, resulting in a terrifying tumble for Artley — ran second and third.

Iverson — who was watching from the pit chute lined up for his heat — made sure the first thing he did after he got back to the pits was check on Artley.

Even at a young age, the on and off-track sportsmanship at UPIR is well on display in the Youth Micro Sprint division.

Another scary moment resulting in another moment of sportsmanship came in the 600 Micro Sprint feature.

As Matt Peterson (Escanaba) and Kyle Mayville (Escanaba) challenged one another for the second spot, Peterson’s throttle hung wide open, and he slammed into the side of Mayville’s car.

Peterson jumped out as fast as he could and immediately ran to check on Mayville and then apologized for the accident.

“I’m not gonna lie. I’ve been in a lot of crashes in my life, but that one scared me,” said Peterson. “I thought I got into Mayville’s cockpit with my car. Thankfully he was fine.”

Mayville not only stayed in the race but held on to take home second place between third-place Kevin Warm (Escanaba) and winner Dennis Ness (Gladstone).

Like Griffin Iverson, Island Resort Sport Compact driver Trever Cronick (Faithorn) needed a rebound at UPIR.

Somehow — after flying into the catchfence last week — Cronick was back at the track, car repaired, ready to get back at it.

Cronick announced his presence with authority in his heat with a three-wide pass on lap one and the heat win. He doubled up with the feature win, proving the over 40 hours of labor during the week to fix the car were well worth it.

“It’s quite amazing, honestly,” Cronick said of the win. “I put a lot of work in on this car this week — pretty much all five days and raced at Norway — so (Friday) night I did nothing on the car. I had to do it all this morning to get ready for today.”

Cronick utilized the high line to pass Elliot Reid (Faithorn) — who hooked a rut while in second on the last lap and just about turned over — in the final moments of the race to take the win.

As Reid made a great save but fell through the field, Tom Waselesky (Harvey) and Dominick Lantagne (Bark River) shuffled their way to second and third.

While drivers like Griffin Iverson and Cronick have been able to rebound from troubles, Sportsman Micro Sprint driver Brett Labre (Escanaba) is waiting for the pendulum to swing back in his favor.

For the second race in a row — this time while leading — Brett Labre suffered mechanical issues, eliminating him from contention.

Tyler Demars (Green Bay, Wis.) capitalized on Labre’s issues to take the win ahead of Brennan Swanson (Menominee) and Drake Degnan (Escanaba).

Drake Degnan likely became the youngest driver in UPIR history to pull double-duty as the high school sophomore made his Super Vintage Modified debut.

Though, he failed to start the feature after losing oil pressure prior to the green flag.

The Vintage and Super Vintage Modified features ran green to checkered with no incidents.

Allan Yelle (Sands), Charles Peterson (Rapid River) and Herb Iverson (Gladstone) finished up top in the Vintage main, while Scott Degnan (Escanaba) led Jesse Denome (Escanaba) and Matt Valiquette (Rapid River) in the Super Vintage.

Cautions plagued both the Street Stock and Bink’s Coca-Cola Sport Modified features.

With both races seeing five cautions, they were cut short and ended under the yellow flag.

Paul Wagner (Gladstone), Nick Pinar (Escanaba) — substitute driving for Tyler Winling (Escanaba) — and Nick Leisner (Escanaba) were the top three for the Street Stocks.

In the Sport Modifieds, it was Matt Valiquette leading Matt Maki (Rapid River) and Pat Richer (Bark River) when the yellow/checkered flew.

UPIR takes the green flag again Saturday at 6 p.m EST.