As snowmachiners halfway through the Iron Dog rested in Nome on Wednesday and worked on their snowmachines, it came to light that second-place prizes for the race were stolen outside a Fairbanks hotel.
According to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, two all-terrain vehicles on a trailer outside the Westmark Hotel were likely taken between midnight and 4 a.m., according to race director Kevin Kastner. Photos of the two stolen vehicles were posted on the race's Facebook page Wednesday. Anyone with information was asked to call Fairbanks police or email race officials at stolen@irondog.org.
Missing were a 2016 CFMoto UFORCE 500 and a 2016 Aluma 8610T.
Iron Dog insurance will ensure that race officials can get replacement ATVs for the second-place finishing team if the stolen vehicles are not recovered, Kastner said.
The first-place prize, a 2016 Toyota Tundra pickup truck, remained at a dealership lot as of Tuesday, Kastner said.
Meanwhile, the 30 teams still in the 2,000-mile race from Big Lake to Nome to Fairbanks took part in what's dubbed Wrenchin' Wednesday inside the Nome Garage to make quick repairs on their machines.
Emphasis quick, because any time spent working on machines is added to their overall trail time.
After the wrench work and some fine dining tonight at the Nome halfway banquet, racers return to the trail Thursday morning.
Any racer looking to pass Nome leaders Tyler Aklestad of Palmer and Tyson Johnson of Eagle River has work to do. The duo holds a 39-minute lead over Todd Minnick and Nick Olstad in second. Brad George and rookie Robby Schachle are third, about seven minutes further back.
All together, 11 teams have scratched in the first half of the race, or about a quarter of the field.
Iron Dog
Standings into Nome
1) Tyler Aklestad and Tyson Johnson, Ski-Doo, 21 hours, 14 minutes, 34 seconds; 2) Todd Minnick and Nick Olstad, Polaris, 21:53:58; 3) Brad George and Robby Schachle, Ski-Doo, 22:00:40; 4) Scott Faeo and Marc McKenna, Polaris, 22:49:16; 5) Chris Olds and Mike Morgan, Polaris, 23:17:54; 6) Jason Gundersen and Josh Norum, Ski-Doo, 24:12:37; 7) Daniel Thibault and Robert Menne, Polaris, 24:49:13; 8) Joshua Plumb and Jordan Starr, Ski-Doo, 24:54:07; 9) Stan Brown and John Dean, Ski-Doo, 24:55:05; 10) Chad Gueco and Dusty VanMeter, Ski-Doo, 25:06:55;
11) Kyle Conner and Donald Koontz, Polaris, 25:12:43; 12) Cody Barber and Brett Lapham, Polaris, 25:53:46; 13) Troy Conlon and Ryan Folsom, Polaris, 26:20:31; 14) Steven Boney and Oliver Unruh, Yamaha, 27:06:53; 15) Joe Cleaver and Bobby Frankson, Polaris, 27:10:27; 16) Larry Levine and Matthew Spernak, Polaris, 27:51:38; 17) Tony Greene and Jon Tolley, Polaris, 28:10:25; 18) Shane Barber and Todd Palin, Polaris, 25:53:46; 19) Jason Chris and Tyler Whitley, Polaris, 28:58:48; 20) Gux Laraux and Vincent Salzbrun, Polaris, 29:18:40;
21) Corey Berg and Charlie Potter, Arctic Cat, 29:40:45; 22) Geoff Crouse and Jerrod Vaughn, Arctic Cat, 29:48:54; 23) Paul Sindorf and Kristofer Sindorf, Ski-Doo, 29:59:57; 24) Ben Bailey and Seth Wells, Ski-Doo, 30:32:58; 25) John Bahnke and Christopher Collins, Ski-Doo, 31:24:16; 26) Chris Carroll and Ray Chvastasz, Polaris, 31:32:41 27) Therron Magnuson and Steffen Strick, Polaris, 32:37:35 28) Klinton Vanwingerden and Kris Vanwingerden, Yamaha, 34:12:43; 29) Mark Johnson and Todd Malamute, Ski-Doo, 37:48:08; 30) Ryan Armstrong and Joe Beech, Arctic Cat, 39:06:20.
Teams Scratched
Rurik Lindner and Richard Swenson in Nome; Tyler Bogert and Daniel Keim in White Mountain; Dieter Strobel and Mike Telkamp in Koyuk; Cory Davis and Ryan Simons in Kaltag; Ryan Sottosanti and Andrew Zwink in Galena; Jimmy Gee and Brian Webb in Galena; Barney Anselment and Dietrich Nikolai in Ophir; Amos Cruise and Shawn Pomrenke in McGrath; Pat Daniels and Shannon Jenkins in McGrath, Jason Alward and Dave Hausbeck in Nicolai; Jason Moore and Robert Strick in Skwentna.