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Hunter Miller wins 2020 UTV King of the Hammers on his first attempt

Feb. 2, 2020
UTVUG Staff

Can-Am swept the podium at the annual Can-Am UTV King of the Hammers Presented by HCR today, with KOH newcomer Hunter Miller besting Midwest short course racer Kyle Chaney and KOH veteran Phil Blurton to round out the podium. Hunter’s brother Cody was the fast qualifier for Sunday’s race, putting the two side by side at the starting line. The Millers are new to rockcrawling and King of the Hammers, but they aren’t new to the winner’s circle. The two Texans have a long history racing for Can-Am, winning championships in GNCC and WORCS in the past. “It’s the absolute hardest race I’ve ever done, and I’ve been racing for 25 years now,” Miller gushed at the finish line. “I’ve never experienced anything like this before. Next to the day my wife said ‘yes,’ this is the best day of my life.”

Hunter Miller 2020 UTV King of the Hammers Champion
Hunter Miller 2020 UTV King of the Hammers Champion

While Miller took the victory, this race will certainly be one that Kyle Chaney will never forget. “I’ll take second place any day from what we went through,” an emotional Chaney confessed after the race. After rolling his Can-Am Maverick X3 on its side on a steep hill, Chaney and his co-driver were able to physically put the UTV back on its wheels. That’s the good news, the bad news is the vehicle rolled backwards, running over Chaney’s leg injuring him in the process. Overcoming significant pain, Kyle continued on to the finish line to take second place. “It’d take a lot more than pain to get me not to finish line of this race!”

After coming in eighth the past two years, Phil Blurton came down from Northern California and spent over two weeks testing and training in Johnson Valley, Blurton even built a brand-new Can-Am Maverick X3 for this race. “You go fast, and then you bash through the rocks, and then you go back through the desert and hope that something’s not falling off your car, because you’re doing a hundred miles an hour across the lake bed!” Blurton joked. It was assumed that six-time winner Mitch Guthrie Sr. had passed the torch to his son Mitch Jr, who won the UTV race the past two years in a row. Guthrie Sr. showed that experience pays off with a fourth-place finish. “I passed Mitchie in Cougar Buttes. He was sitting there, and I was kinda stopped, and they said ‘axle’, and I was like ‘Oh my gosh’. So, that sucked, really sucked.” Jr. finished 16th.

The UTV King of the Hammers race has arguably the deepest talent pool in a week of events full of talented racers. 4400 stars Loren Healy and Shannon Campbell mixed it up with desert racers Bryce Menzies and Cameron Steele, short course racers CJ Greeves and Rodrigo Ampudia, and longtime UTV racers such as Branden Sims, Kristen Matlock, and Mitch Guthrie. Casey Currie raced and finished in seventh place, fresh off his impressive win in the SSV at the Dakar Rally. Supercross legend Jeremy McGrath finished 29th. To challenge this talented roster, Hammerking promoter Dave Cole used the same course for 2020 Can-Am UTV King of the Hammers Race Presented by HCR as the first two laps as Friday’s Nitto King of the Hammers Powered by Optima Batteries (which runs an additional lap through the most challenging rock canyons). Just five years ago, only five UTVs finish the race. In 2020, 33 out of 131 vehicles finished the race within the eight-hour time limit.

The 143-mile course started with a 77-mile desert loop that mixed high-speed lakebeds with tight, twisty ridgelines. From there, the difficulty ratcheted up as the competitors had to traverse Outer Limits and Spooners as part of the rock loop; trails that overwhelm even ULTRA4 cars with 40-inch tires and V-8 engines. The action continues on Monday, February 3rd with qualifying for the 4WP Every Man Challenge starting at 10 AM. After the sun goes down the action heats up from 6 PM to 9 PM with Holley EFI Shootout presented by King Shocks and Action Sports Canopies. Not on the lakebed? Follow all of the action at www.ultra4racing.com/live.

2020 UTV King of the Hammers Race Results

PosNo.NameLapsTotal TimeDiffClass
1190Hunter Miller204:29:44.201 UTV
2191Kyle Chaney204:32:24.93500:02:40.734UTV
3944Phil Blurton204:36:17.55200:06:33.351UTV
456Mitch Guthrie Sr.204:47:14.38600:17:30.185UTV
571Nathan Wolff204:55:05.22400:25:21.023UTV
6222Trey Mckinlay205:07:21.64400:37:37.443UTV
72Casey Currie205:08:49.99600:39:05.795UTV
81910Jason Weller205:28:07.02900:58:22.828UTV
9221Cody Miller205:30:34.24901:00:50.048UTV
10922Nicholas Turner205:36:54.78001:07:10.579UTV
111945Blake Van de Loo205:42:16.00301:12:31.802UTV
124932Scott Lesage205:46:32.29601:16:48.095UTV
13954Austin Weiland205:55:25.30901:25:41.108UTV
141929Lanse Chournos205:56:29.03101:26:44.830UTV
151950Logan Goodall205:58:48.84201:29:04.641UTV
169Mitch Guthrie Jr205:59:32.51701:29:48.316UTV
1794Christopher Polvoorde206:01:40.55001:31:56.349UTV
184959Richard Farmer206:04:46.94801:35:02.747UTV
19844Greg Uffens206:06:34.36901:36:50.168UTV
20278Knox Griffin206:07:12.00801:37:27.807UTV
2183Raul Gomez206:13:44.31301:44:00.112UTV
2213Chip MacLaughlin207:11:18.83802:41:34.637UTV
23187Robert Butler207:15:44.75202:46:00.551UTV
241920John Duckworth207:17:49.04702:48:04.846UTV
2552Nathan Zollinger207:24:09.10102:54:24.900UTV
263Eliott Watson207:29:19.48502:59:35.284UTV
2754Kristien Matlock207:39:52.37803:10:08.177UTV
28417Justin Barth207:40:21.53403:10:37.333UTV
2915Jeremy McGrath207:42:15.53103:12:31.330UTV
3082JP Gomez207:58:28.09003:28:43.889UTV
314999Kyle Osborne208:04:49.07403:35:04.873UTV
3286Marcos Gomez208:06:41.51603:36:57.315UTV
33247Matthew Zeiler208:16:37.92903:46:53.728UTV
3436Rodrigo Ampudia102:04:16.5981 LapUTV
354952Ronnie Anderson102:10:33.2901 LapUTV
362971Wayne Matlock102:10:46.8581 LapUTV
3734Jeff Mckinlay102:11:16.2891 LapUTV
38969Logan Gastel102:15:49.3491 LapUTV
3978Sara Price102:17:14.0201 LapUTV
401911Paul Hart102:19:26.5261 LapUTV
411481Chayse Caprara102:20:58.0411 LapUTV
4233CJ Greaves102:20:58.7031 LapUTV
4395Ryan Conery102:21:03.7671 LapUTV
441995Kaden Wells102:24:22.6351 LapUTV
457Bryce Menzies102:26:18.2681 LapUTV
46570Ben Jones102:29:24.2271 LapUTV
4794Rodrigo Arriagada102:29:49.0691 LapUTV
481954Matthew Peterson102:35:13.5281 LapUTV
494972Justin Cochran102:37:08.1441 LapUTV
50924Patrick Larraburu102:38:10.3271 LapUTV
512377Luis Leon Gonzalez102:39:40.1831 LapUTV
52804Matthew Torney102:40:06.3381 LapUTV
53311Dustin Robbins102:40:50.0501 LapUTV
54805Mark Morisoli102:43:20.8341 LapUTV
55501Grant Farwell102:43:21.7851 LapUTV
56965Robert Smith102:45:19.2311 LapUTV
57978Dustin Jones102:47:42.8571 LapUTV
581003Aaron Clark102:51:03.5931 LapUTV
594903Will Harris102:54:05.9181 LapUTV
60341Alex Cummins102:57:18.9701 LapUTV
61425Jerod Birzer102:57:52.3921 LapUTV
624934Scott Raymer103:01:03.2201 LapUTV
635612Robert Lunsford103:01:18.8061 LapUTV
64412Michael Snook103:02:44.4361 LapUTV
65209Aaron Henry103:08:24.1891 LapUTV
66921Brandon Miller103:08:27.4221 LapUTV
67502James Cantrell103:09:09.1671 LapUTV
68558Chris Leaming103:09:45.1261 LapUTV
694046Chris Branton103:09:52.5181 LapUTV
701800Joshua Grasseth103:19:41.2561 LapUTV
71577Tristan Leon Gonzalez103:19:46.8221 LapUTV
724904Anthony McAbee103:27:52.9921 LapUTV
7317David Newell103:30:10.5241 LapUTV
74223Shane Smith103:30:25.2521 LapUTV
7599Alex Parpottas103:30:58.7541 LapUTV
764973Chris Holland103:33:53.3221 LapUTV
771948Joshua Smith103:36:05.8591 LapUTV
78261Daniel Waller103:40:02.8701 LapUTV
794950William Eisenberg103:41:04.0771 LapUTV
804977BJ Leach103:44:48.2071 LapUTV
811988Robert Bieth103:45:28.5241 LapUTV
826851Tanner Stephens103:48:03.1271 LapUTV
83747Chad Jessee103:49:51.5111 LapUTV
84125Malcolm McKenzie103:51:58.8971 LapUTV
85409Robert Sims103:53:28.8951 LapUTV
86823Levi Metzinger103:54:12.5991 LapUTV
87513Steve Robinson103:58:36.3031 LapUTV
884990David Ainsworth103:58:37.8101 LapUTV
894Zandy Willems104:04:56.7371 LapUTV
90127Devin Aymond104:16:58.9081 LapUTV
9167Loren Healy104:21:25.6301 LapUTV
924905Michael Sawyer104:25:46.6571 LapUTV
9316Cameron Steele104:26:54.6381 LapUTV
944907Joshua Chapman104:34:23.4621 LapUTV
95411Jim Henle104:37:17.3421 LapUTV
964911Ron Shafer104:51:47.0801 LapUTV
974988Dan Fresh104:58:48.9061 LapUTV
9841Troy Shipman105:52:19.1161 LapUTV
994902Randy Jelleff105:56:41.7001 LapUTV
10088Mark Welch106:01:18.9851 LapUTV
1011961Chris Barnett106:10:38.5581 LapUTV
102817Edward Youskevich106:52:20.8671 LapUTV
1037665Chris Mcdaniel106:55:26.0951 LapUTV
10449051Chris Gornell107:01:32.0741 LapUTV
10512Brock Heger 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
10643Jacob Versey 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
107211Michael Lee 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
1085Shannon Campbell 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
10922Cody Currie 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
110913Branden Sims 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
11124Cole Clark 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
11231Brent Zimmerman 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
1133azWayland Campbell 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
11435Bailey Campbell 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
11564Robert VanBeekum 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
1161966George Lisenbery 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
117916Brian Tilton 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
1184915Paul Krout 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
119812Matthew Mangin 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
120182Heath Taylor 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
12114Darren Fretz 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
1223578Brett Weiler 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
123121Katelynn Hadlock 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
1249691Daniel Hurn 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
125537Michael Faltz 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
12618Terry Madden 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
127777Daniel Markley 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
128122Johnny Greaves 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
1291923Robert Gott 00:00:00.0002 LapsUTV
DQ1914Garison Callaway205:10:17.918DQUTV
DQ615Hubert Rowland102:55:50.026DQUTV

Story & Photos courtesy of Ultra4Racing.com

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