7/1/2025
Escanaba Motor Speedway
Dalgord, Mathieson earn first feature wins of season at 6th Annual Christian Groleau Memorial
ESCANABA — Sunny skies welcomed fans to the Escanaba Motor Speedway Saturday night for the Sixth Annual Christian Groleau Memorial Race.
Groleau passed away in 2020 and was a three-time champion at the Speedway. In his career, Groleau won the 2012 500 Micro Sprint championship — now the Sportsman Micro Sprint division — and the 2016 and 2018 600 Micro Sprint championships along with numerous heat and feature races.
Proceeds from this year’s Groleau Memorial went toward Overdose Awareness of Delta County.
The night brought the first feature wins of the season to drivers in both the Bink’s Coca-Cola Sport Modifieds and the Bichler Concrete and Gravel Unified Street Stocks.
First up, in the Sport Mods, three-time track champion Lonnie Dalgord (Escanaba), outlasted Rapid River’s Anthony Harper and Norway’s Rick Gustavson to take his first trip to Race Driven Victory Lane for a feature in 2025. Dalgord passed Escanaba’s Kyle Johnson for the lead about halfway into the race and never gave the spot up. For the third week in a row bad luck befell Johsnon. After leading from pole, his race came to an early end as he fell out of the race with mechanical issues while running in the top five.
Escanaba’s Eric Mathieson charged from the 11th starting spot to take home the Bichler Concrete and Gravel Unified Street Stock Feature in the night’s next feature. Mathieson battled through a race of attrition, and several late race restarts to hold off Bark River’s Qwentin Johnson and Norway’s Carter Gustavson. Of the 11 cars that started the feature, only six were running at the Wendy Holzenkamp Schmidt Realtors checkered flag.
The Riverside Auto Group Youth Micro Sprint division saw Escanaba’s Tanner Rae nab his third consecutive victory of the season ahead of Gladstone’s Wyatt Ammel and Gwinn’s Amelia Hart.
Escanaba’s Chase Richer took home the race win in the Sportsman Micro Sprints ahead of the Bark River duo of Braxton Lundquist and Gage Heim.
Closing out the micro sprint action on Christian Groleau Memorial Night were the 600 Micro Sprints with Cornell’s Ethan Manninen taking the win from pole with Logan Getzloff of Wilson in second and Bark River’s Brayden Lundquist in third.
In the Super Modified feature, Escanaba’s Scott Degnan grabbed his second feature win of the season, his first since opening week. Gunnar Hansen (Ogontz) had a solid run, finishing in second for the second week in a row while Bark River’s Paul Hosking rounded out the top three.
The Exhibition Vintage Modifieds kicked off feature racing as Ron Anderson led Charlie Peterson across the line.
In the night’s final race, Ishpeming’s Mark Isley put on a dominant performance in the Island Resort and Casino Sport Compacts, leading much of the race and winning with a healthy margin over second place Brian VanDrese of Cornell. Gladstone’s Jared Demuese finished in third
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The 2025 racing season continues at the Escanaba Motor Speedway Saturday, July 5, with Sayklly’s Salute to Veterans Night. Gates open at 5 p.m. eastern time with the green flag at 7. Veterans with military ID receive free grandstand admission.
Article Credit: Todd Rose, Escanaba Motor Speedway Annnouncer & Re