Buser continues torrid pace to Nome

With more than a three-hour lead in his back pocket and only 100 miles of trail facing him yeseterday, Martin Buser appeared to be in control of Iditarod XXX .

As of press time Monday morning, Buser was on the trail to Elim, which is only 123 miles from Nome. With rest and a mandatory eight-hour layover in White Mountain facing him, Buser will be pressed to try to break Doug Swingley's record. Barring any major changes in the weather, however, Buser should finish sometime this afternoon to claim his fourth title and join the short-list of four-time champs, which includes Swingley, Susan Butcher and Rick Swenson.

Buser maintained a good lead over Ramy Brooks, John Baker, DeeDee Jonrowe, Jon Little and Vern Halter, managing to stay one checkpoint ahead of his followers. Brooks closed the gap to three hours by Monday morning, but has not gotten any closer.

Buser went to the head of the pack last Tuesday, forging ahead from Nikolai while others rested during the daylight. As the race has progressed, Buser has continued to lengthen his lead.

Most of the front runners still have a strong contingent of dogs to make the final stretch, with Buser running with 10, Baker with 10 and Halter with 10. Brooks is down to eight dogs and Jonrowe has seven dogs on her team, which will make it very difficult for them to have any chance of catching Buser.

As the race has progressed, more mushers have been forced to scratch from the race, most notably Linwood Fiedler of Willow.

Fiedler scratched in Ruby Friday due to an illness that had incapacitated his team.

In addition to Fiedler, Lance Mackey, Judy Merritt and Ellen Halverson scratched late last week.

Mackey scratched in Ophir with eight dogs remaining on the team, citing that it was best for his team to scratch from this year's race and focus on next year.

Merritt scratched Thursday after a broken sled runner stranded her and her team in the Dalzell Gorge six miles from Rohn.

Halverson's dogs gave up the race on the trail between McGrath and Takotna, stopping five miles outside of McGrath and refusing to continue.