Both Tyler Aklestad and Nick Olstad of Team 7 seem to be squarely in their element as they battled up the coastline toward Nome in first place. With the uneven amounts of layover time taken on the Northbound section of the race, trail position doesn't necessarily equate to the same standing on the race roster. Once times are equated for both layover and start time, we will see an easier view of who is where in the standings.
Not only is Team 7 leading the pack, but more often than not it seems that the split times for this racing pair are on par with or faster than those in pursuit.
It appears that several teams ran into some trouble last night past Galena, Team 2 not withstanding. Leah Bauer's Polaris Indy Cross-Country engulfed in flames, and left the charred remains of what was a Iron-Dog race machine on the trail. Luckily neither her nor her racing partner Jacob Dahle were injured in this event. Team 2 join the others totaling 5 Pro-Class racing teams that have been forced from the race.
As of 7:30PM 17 teams have made it to Nome where they will enjoy a 24 hour mandatory rest period. During that time they will be given an opportunity to look over their machines, fix what may have been broken after the 1,015 mile journey to Nome or perform some preventative maintenance before they travel more than 1,500 additional miles toward the finish line.
The 6th pro-class team to have scratched this afternoon appears to be Team 39 of Cody Barber and Brett Lapham. It is being reported, unofficially, that Lapham had potentially hit a hole, got his foot caught in stirrup and then was dragged for a distance while potentially becoming involved with the rotating track of his sled as well. We hope no serious injuries have resulted of this event.
Additional information from the rumor mill, and I cannot stress this enough that these details are unofficial, is that Brian Leslie of Team 14 endured being thrown from his snowmachine as well between Koyuk and Nome in the Walla-Walla area. Kody Worley of Team 30 had also hit a pressure ridge in the ice going 70mph which caused a nasty crash. His Polaris Matryx Cross Country suffered some damage that is being reported to be repairable in Nome.
Robbie Schachle and Brad George of Team 6 have been burning through what seems to be an inordinate amount of fuel in their Ski-Doo sleds, having ran out of fuel twice now between checkpoints. They most recently ran out of fuel roughly 15 miles before Kaltag last night. The racers hitched a ride with Team 34, got fuel, then utilized a local's snowmachine to return to their race sleds, fuel up, and continue onward. Prior to that they had run out of fuel one mile from Skwentna. Burning through 13 gallons of fuel in 90 miles is a heavy throttle schedule.
As the leaderboard settles into this extended layover, the only variable for a while will be the amount of time the racers spend wrenching on their machines, as this will be added to their overall elapsed trail time. We will be looking for information regarding repairs, problems, and other details tomorrow. Be prepared for a Day 4 update tomorrow!
