UPIR pays tribute to Allan Yelle
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ESCANABA -- The Upper Peninsula International Raceway took a break from the points championship chase for the non-points Midsummer Classic Saturday evening in Escanaba.
The night also doubled as a tribute to the late Allan Yelle, who competed on Upper Peninsula racetracks since 1956. Even into his 65th season of racing in 2021, Yelle was winning races, taking three feature wins at UPIR that year.
Many tracks - Sands Speedway, Norway Speedway and Kinross Speedpark - have also dedicated, or will dedicate, a night of racing to Yelle in their 2022 seasons.
For the second time this season, Allan's car was back in action with his granddaughter, 15-year-old Abi Yelle (Harvey), behind the wheel.
Abi, a Sands Speedway regular in the fuel injected and four-cylinder classes, wheeled the number 93 vintage mod to a third-place finish in the Miller Pipeline Vintage Modified Feature.
Abi said it was always Allan's wish for her to run the 93 at some point.
"He told me, 'I want you to race my car.' (I thought) 'ok, I'm not ready yet,' and that happened last year. I was like, 'I'll do it next year,' and then all this happened," Abi Yelle said. "I honestly love doing it. It's something different. Somebody in the asphalt field does need to take a turn for something different and at least try it once."
She also shared what it means to her and her family to have tracks honor her legendary grandfather.
"It really does mean a lot to me because a lot of people looked up to him," she said. "People are taking their time from a specific race and taking the time to put this together and squeeze it in. It just really does mean a lot to me and my family."
Charles Peterson (Rapid River) took the vintage modified feature win with Terry Royer in second.
The Bink's Coca--Cola Sport Modified came down to a three--car battle between a trio of former track champions as Matt Valiquette (Rapid River), Jamie Iverson (Escanaba) and Lonnie Dalgord (Escanaba) tussled for the top spot in the second half of the 20-lap feature.
Following a late-race caution, Valiquette fended off the challenge from Iverson, Dalgord and the remainder of the field behind.
Valiquette started in the 10th position and worked his way through a barrage of early yellow flags to position himself for the win.
"The start of the race was very shaky for different reasons, but I knew I had 20 laps, and I knew I had some really fast cars in front of me," commented Valiquette on his strategy for the race. "My sole objective, which hasn't worked out for me this season so much, was to work my way up then sort it out and see who is there.
"I fully expected to see Jamie and Lonnie up front. So, when it was the three of us up front, I knew we could race hard with each other. I love racing with those guys, both of them. Hopefully, we put on a great show for the fans."
The plaque commemorating the race win at the Allan Yelle Memorial is one Valiquette said he will display proudly. Growing up, he watched, and looked up to, the likes of Allan Yelle, Bob Iverson, Herb Iverson, Don Benoit and his father Jake Valiquette.
The kids got feature racing started with the Riverside Auto Group Youth Micros Sprint Feature.
Tanner Rae (Escanaba) and Bentley Richer (Escanaba) dueled through much of the race until a late--race yellow stacked up the field.
On the restart, Richer and Rae collided in turn one, sending Rae sideways. Rae collected the car and continued but lost both the battle for the lead and second place as Kaleb Warm (Escanaba) got around him in the dust up.
Richer held on for the win with Warm and Rae in second and third.
In the Don's HVAC Sportsman Feature, it was Chase Richer (Escanaba) copping the win ahead of Braden Beauchamp (Escanaba) -- driving the number 29 normally piloted by Jeffrey Latsch (Escanaba) -- and Brennan Swanson (Menomine).
Special for the night was the appearance of the wingless 600 micro sprints as the competitors of the EMP 600 Micro Sprint division competed without their usual wings.
Kevin Warm (Escanaba) took the win in the special event ahead of Rick Ness (Escanaba) and Dennis Ness (Gladstone).
Scott Degnan (Escanaba) led Jesse Denome (Escanaba) and son Drake Degnan (Escanaba) across the line in the JD Machine Super Modified Feature, while Logan Verhagen (Little Chute, Wis.) took the Five Corners Market Street Stock Feature race ahead of Brayden Lundquist (Bark River) and Brendan Lambert (Escanaba).
A scary moment brought racing to a halt in the Island Resort Sport Compact Feature as Robert Knight lost a right rear wheel and top speed entering turn one. The car dug into the dirt racing surface and was catapulted into a series of barrel rolls before coming to rest right-side-up.
Knight climbed from the battered vehicle and walked to the ambulance for a mandatory check-up under his own power.
The race ended with just three cars in the running, with several falling out due to incidents and mechanical issues.
Elliot Reid (Faithorn) took the win ahead of Tom Waselesky (Harvey) and Sam Gould (Gladstone) in a green-white-checkered finish.
UPIR takes a week off before returning to action on Saturday July 23.