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2017 Can-Am King of the Hammers
Johnson Valley, California
UTV / SXS Racing
February 8, 2017
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Shannon Campbell Crowned
King of the Hammers
KOH / King of the Hammers
UTV Race Report
2017
Can-Am King of the Hammers KOH Links
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Johnson Valley, CA (2/13/2017)
– Monster Energy’s Shannon Campbell led a
trio of Campbell family members to victory in the
Can-Am King of the Hammers presented by RCV. The
Campbells’ and their Ultra4Racing team made their
debut in the UTV portion of the event pay off as
father Shannon led his son Wayland, who finished
second in the grueling event. Reid Nordin finished
third, ahead of Erik Miller, with the top four all
racing Polaris RZRs. Casey Currie was fifth in a
Can-Am Maverick X3.
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Wayland Campbell
(left) & Shannon Campbell (right)
claimed the top 2 spots on the podium,
which was an impressive for this Father
& Son in their UTV racing debut at
the King of the Hammers
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With near-perfect weather on the Wednesday race
day, 75 UTVs took the start in front of thousands
of spectators. The 115-mile course featured several
of the difficult rock sections and elevation changes
the King of the Hammers is known for, along with
a long desert stretch that ran across a nearby
military base.
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The Johnson
Valley, California Desert turned into
Hammer Town with thousands of campers
and people packing the valley for the
week long King of the Hammers event
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A huge turnout for this year’s event was whittled
down to 75 entries. Mitch Guthrie, Jr. won the
pole, but in the end, it didn’t seem to matter
for the elder Campbell and his Monster Energy
Polaris RZR. On the second lap, several racers
were stuck in a bottleneck at the Aftershock section.
Campbell got out front there and pulled a 15-plus-minute
gap from that point forward, holding the lead
for the final 30 miles. Shannon and Wayland Campbell
went on to finish one-two again in the 4400 Unlimited
Class car race on Friday.
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Monster Energy's
Shannon Campbell charged his way up Chocolate
Thunnder with 15 minute gap over 2nd place
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“I never expected this,” said Shannon Campbell.
“I expected this guy (Mitch Guthrie, Jr.) was
going to kill me. We almost wrecked every corner
out there. The ruts are so big out there, we were
on two wheels, even one wheel, the whole race.
We never winched and Mitch really showed me how
to run in the rocks. We pre-ran with him and he
gave us a lot of help. The coolest thing is to
beat him. He’s like a six-time winner. This is
something I’ve never done, this is my first race
and it’s quite the deal. This was the first UTV
race for all three of us so it has been quite
a week.”
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Polaris RZR's
Shannon Campbell held on to claim the
UTV Win on Wednesday & he backed it
up with the 4400 Truck Win on Friday
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