Outdoors/Adventure

Ski-Doo drivers Johnson, Aklestad finally on verge of Iron Dog win

Some things never change — like the position of Ski-Doo drivers Tyler Aklestad and Tyson Johnson at the front of this year's 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmachine race.

But some things do — and if the Johnson-Aklestad duo can manage a clean run over the final 290 miles Saturday morning, the drivers' decades-long history of crashes, breakdowns and heartbreaking defeats will end with a taste of victory long denied.

For Johnson, 36, who first raced the Iron Dog in 1997, this is his 18th race. He's only finished 10, never winning.

For Aklestad, 30, who first raced the Iron Dog in 2004, this is 13th race. He's finished four, never winning.

But over the first 1,700 miles of this ultramarathon that pays the winning team $65,000 from a $260,000 purse, Aklestad, of Palmer, and Johnson, of Eagle River, have delivered a demonstration of clean, safe and fast driving – including flying across Yukon River ice at more than 75 mph, as they did Thursday night.

On Friday, they pulled into Tanana with a 39-minute lead — a comfortable margin in this race — over fellow Ski-Doo drivers Brad George and rookie Robbie Schachle. Another four minutes back were Todd Minnick and Nick Olstad on their Polaris snowmachines. Defending champion Scott Faeo and four-time champion Marc McKenna were fourth, more than two hours behind the frontrunners.

"You know," Johnson said in Nome on Wednesday, "in this race, you could be a mile from the finish line and have a breakdown. To go 2,000 miles and not have a machine break down is kind of luck in itself."

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But perhaps the snowmachining ?gods are finally smiling on the longtime tandem.

As the race leaders blazed upriver on the mighty Yukon on Friday, the difficulty of cutting into the top drivers' lead became apparent.

Out of Kaltag, the first checkpoint on the Yukon, Aklestad and Johnson guarded a 33-minute lead.

Into the next checkpoint of Galena, it was up to 38 minutes.

Out of Ruby, it was sliced to 35 minutes, but into Tanana it was back up to 39. A minute here, a minute there, but no big changes among the top drivers.

"It's hard to make up that kind of time at this stage of the race — not without mechanical problems," said seven-time champion Scott Davis of Soldotna, 57, who sat out this race and is providing commentary for KTTU television.

An Aklestad-Johnson victory would also bring a measure of joy to Bombardier Recreational Products, the multi-national company that designs and manufactures Ski-Doos. But nobody would be happier than the drivers. Polaris machines won the last two Iron Dogs, and five of the last seven.

"They have the resources and the ability, and they've finally been able to get luck on their side," Davis said. "If you do it enough and get yourself in position to finally win the race, it's bound to happen eventually."

All the front-running teams are held in Tanana overnight to ensure a daytime finish in Fairbanks. The first team is expected to finish the race at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor's Center early Saturday afternoon.

Contact Mike Campbell at mcampbell(at)alaskadispatch.com

Mike Campbell

Mike Campbell was a longtime editor for Alaska Dispatch News, and before that, the Anchorage Daily News.

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