Zack Steer is leading the 2007 Copper Basin 300 into Meiers Checkpoint. As in most distance races the leaders switch around depending on rest schedules. One early surprise was the relatively new musher Brent Sass of Fairbanks. Sass ran his first race in the 2006 Yukon Quest 300, and won the event. With Sass dropping three dogs he has moved back into the mid pack. Other race leaders joining Steer are Yukon mushers Sebastian Schnuelle, Gerry Willowmitzer and William Kleedehn. The Copper Basin has a mandatory 8 hour layover and mushers must accumulate a total of 12 additional hours of rest at any checkpoints, where mushers take these rest stops is all part of the strategy.With snow falling and warning of between 4 and 13 inches of accumulation, coupled with very warm temperatures of 41F to 11F, travel must be slow and wet.With more than half the trail yet to be covered, this could be anybody’s race.
