McKenna, Van Meter lead Iron Dog pack

Their lead didn't last long.

McKenna and Van Meter were the first to reach Kaltag on Friday night, the first checkpoint after Unalakleet, where the race picked up after drivers traveled from Nome to Unalakleet under a yellow caution flag Thursday because of conditions deemed too hazardous to race in.

But as McKenna and Van Meter continued upriver to the next checkpoint in Galena, they got stuck in overflow on the Yukon River. According to race officials, they wrested their machines out and drove to Nulato, a village between the two checkpoints, to get dry.

As they did, the three-team chase pack became the lead pack.

Defending champions Tyler Huntington of Fairbanks and Chris Olds of Eagle River, riding Polaris Rush 600s, grabbed the lead by reaching Galena at 8:41 p.m. Friday. Todd Palin of Wasilla and Eric Quam of Palmer arrived at 8:45 and the Soldotna father-son team of Scott and Cory Davis pulled in at 8:49.

All three teams elected to take their eight-hour mandatory layover in Galena.

Fairbanks is 561 miles ahead -- but so is more bad weather. A new storm blasted Fairbanks on Friday, delivering powerful winds and blowing snow that turned the city into a wind tunnel.

A similarly nasty storm hit the Seward Peninsula just after the leaders reached the race's halfway point in Nome on Tuesday. The race stalled under a yellow caution flag Thursday as drivers snaked down the Seward Peninsula to Unalakleet, slowed by snow, wind and overflow.

The emergency shutdown and controlled move to Unalakleet sliced about 220 miles from the 2,000-mile race from Big Lake to Nome to Fairbanks.

Race officials Thursday said the delay would move the finish from today to Sunday, but after meeting with drivers Friday they moved the expected finish to 6 p.m. today. Instead of two mandatory 10-hour layovers and a hold on racers in Tanana the evening before the finish, racers will have one eight-hour layover and a short hold in Tanana.

Former Iron Dog racer Tommy Kriska of Tanana tried to work on the trail between Ruby and Tanana on Friday afternoon.

"Wind is blowing the snow sideways," he wrote on the Iron Dog website. "Whiteout conditions right now. Waiting for the weather to settle down."

Fourteen teams have scratched, leaving 16 in the race.