In what appears to be a brutal day of racing, two more teams scratched late in the evening Monday night, Feb. 17. Following the scratches of Teams 11 and 9 earlier in the day, Team 45, Barney Anselment and Amos Cruise, and Team 2, Ryan Sottosanti and Micah Huss, both ended their bids for Iron Dog contention.

There was little word on why either team decided to scratch. Anselment and Amos took an unorthodox approach to this year’s race, choosing to use their six-hour layover in Fairbanks and start behind their competitors. They were hoping the late-night riding would be easier and allow them to make up the time overnight. They scratched in Unalakleet.

Team 2 checked out of Buckland at around 6:32 in the evening, but the tracker shows them stopping just north from the checkpoint. According to their team Facebook page, there were some electrical problems the team was trying to fix.

With the addition of the scratches by teams 45 and 2, there are now 20 of the original 29 teams left, with more than halfway remaining to race.

###