Sass wins YQA550 with "one of the best teams in the world."

Brent Sass crossed the finish line of the YQA550 at 7:45pm with his team of twelve frosty, happy dogs. The team pulled up to the famed Pumphouse met by friends, family, and fans to become the inaugural champion of the 550.

Brent led the race from day one, never truly relinquishing the lead. Sure, as he camped along the trail others would pass him, but not long after Brent would once again take control of the race. Brent averaged over four hours of lead time on the competition.

As the team made their way into the finish, the race had some technical difficulties and they lost their lights! Headlamps from handlers and race volunteers and officials were all that illuminated the champion as he congratulated and praised his dogs, hugged his dad, and took interview questions.

When asked how he feels about his chances for this year's Iditarod, Brent gave a nervous chuckle and began talking about how he is really proud of his team but that Iditarod has a highly competitive field. "My buddy Jessie Holmes is here, he came to watch my finish. I'm looking forward to battling with him out on the trail." He did say that he feels he has one of the best teams in the world, that they're highly experienced and that he feels good about how things will play out.

Brent spoke of several stand out dogs. Slater, one of his lead dogs at the finish, is seven and is "probably the best dog I'll ever get to drive." The high praise wasn't just for the old trail hardened veteran dogs, Brent pointed out a couple of younger dogs who he was on the fence about bringing on the Quest and Iditarod that more than proved themselves this week.

Over all, Sass should be very proud of how he ran this race. The musher told the media that he stuck to his game plan and didn't pay attention to what others were doing, which he says is easy to do on the Quest with the long runs between checkpoints allowing for camping. When asked what advice he had for other mushers Brent simply repeated the mantra he has tattooed on his arm: "Run your race."

The dogs are well fed and bedded down. The next team in should be Amanda Otto but don't look for her to come into the finish until - at earliest - 1am (but more likely between 2 and 3am) Thursday. Wade Marrs is third out of Nenana and barring more trouble he will be into the finish in the next seven to eight hours.

Brent Sass summed up his race best: "It was a hell of an adventure! I'm so proud of these guys-this team."