Josh Blyler Scores Victory at 2020 King of the Hammers
There’s a new King of the Hammers in 2020, and his name is Josh Blyler.
Last year’s Ultra4 points champion wasn’t exactly what you would call an unheralded driver coming into this year’s premier event at Johnson Valley, but Blyler certainly paid off the momentum of a strong 2019 season. After finishing 11th here last year, he became just the seventh driver in history to win the prestigious event, finishing three laps around a grueling course in 07:06:32.488.
For the second year in a row, two-time KOH winner Erik Miller was the bridesmaid, finishing with a time of 07:22:29.220. Marcos Gomez was less than two minutes behind Miller in third, while Bailey Cole avenged last year’s DNF in fourth place and John Webb completed the top five. Other notable finishers included three-time former King and polesitter Loren Healy in seventh, two-time winner Shannon Campbell in 11th, UTV Race polesitter Cody Miller in 15th, and former Formula Drift champion Vaughn Gittin Jr. in 38th.
Jason Scherer’s bid to become the first driver to win KOH three consecutive times, and four times overall, ended after just one lap, but he was far from the only high-profile DNF. Cameron Steele’s hard-luck week continued as he suffered his third mechanical failure of this year’s KOH short of the finish, while other DNFs included three-time King Randy Slawson, two-time podium finisher Wayland Campbell, and 2020 Dakar Rally SSV winner Casey Currie. All told, 44 of the 110 entries made it to the finish.
Full results from this year’s Nitto King of the Hammers were as follows:
| Pos. | No. | Name | Laps | Total Time | Diff. |
| 1 | 41 | Josh Blyler | 3 | 07:06:32.488 | |
| 2 | 21 | Erik Miller | 3 | 07:22:29.220 | 00:15:56.732 |
| 3 | 86 | Marcos Gomez | 3 | 07:23:56.045 | 00:17:23.557 |
| 4 | 4454 | Bailey Cole | 3 | 07:35:28.019 | 00:28:55.531 |
| 5 | 4468 | John Webb | 3 | 07:39:33.308 | 00:33:00.820 |
| 6 | 83 | Raul Gomez | 3 | 07:44:54.838 | 00:38:22.350 |
| 7 | 67 | Loren Healy | 3 | 08:09:07.739 | 01:02:35.251 |
| 8 | 4456 | Brett Harrell | 3 | 08:38:22.928 | 01:31:50.440 |
| 9 | 218 | Dan Wyrick | 3 | 09:11:51.000 | 02:05:18.512 |
| 10 | 4441 | Darren Henke | 3 | 09:13:35.481 | 02:07:02.993 |
| 11 | 5 | Shannon Campbell | 3 | 09:20:05.788 | 02:13:33.300 |
| 12 | 686 | Joey Weber | 3 | 09:22:16.706 | 02:15:44.218 |
| 13 | 81 | Levi Shirley | 3 | 09:26:31.405 | 02:19:58.917 |
| 14 | 78 | Michael Justice | 3 | 09:35:48.069 | 02:29:15.581 |
| 15 | 221 | Cody Miller | 3 | 09:39:15.854 | 02:32:43.366 |
| 16 | 8 | Dan Fresh | 3 | 09:39:54.313 | 02:33:21.825 |
| 17 | 802 | Nathan Gesse | 3 | 09:58:51.707 | 02:52:19.219 |
| 18 | 4432 | George Pronesti | 3 | 10:02:04.778 | 02:55:32.290 |
| 19 | 726 | Dennis Sterndahl | 3 | 10:06:14.621 | 02:59:42.133 |
| 20 | 906 | Chris Paiva | 3 | 10:13:26.587 | 03:06:54.099 |
| 21 | 60 | Chad Owens | 3 | 10:14:18.892 | 03:07:46.404 |
| 22 | 35 | Bailey Campbell | 3 | 10:19:00.975 | 03:12:28.487 |
| 23 | 342 | Tray McKinlay | 3 | 10:25:18.850 | 03:18:46.362 |
| 24 | 4 | Chip MacLaughlin | 3 | 10:25:51.665 | 03:19:19.177 |
| 25 | 59 | Eric Wicks | 3 | 10:56:10.343 | 03:49:37.855 |
| 26 | 313 | Brian Trotter | 3 | 11:00:38.022 | 03:54:05.534 |
| 27 | 71 | John Hall | 3 | 11:01:30.779 | 03:54:58.291 |
| 28 | 4215 | Eric Miramon | 3 | 11:03:19.834 | 03:56:47.346 |
| 29 | 306 | Michael Ayersman | 3 | 11:17:18.519 | 04:10:46.031 |
| 30 | 32 | Sam Collins | 3 | 11:31:04.962 | 04:24:32.474 |
| 31 | 823 | Jade Wickham | 3 | 11:37:07.338 | 04:30:34.850 |
| 32 | 4485 | Tony Pellegrino | 3 | 11:45:44.903 | 04:39:12.415 |
| 33 | 11 | Kevin Stearns | 3 | 11:47:28.844 | 04:40:56.356 |
| 34 | 1943 | Randy Watson | 3 | 11:49:21.705 | 04:42:49.217 |
| 35 | 4475 | Edwin Abd | 3 | 11:51:23.775 | 04:44:51.287 |
| 36 | 4493 | Andrew McLaughlin | 3 | 12:13:25.699 | 05:06:53.211 |
| 37 | 792 | Kris Wicks | 3 | 12:13:43.717 | 05:07:11.229 |
| 38 | 25 | Vaughn Gittin Jnr | 3 | 12:16:48.105 | 05:10:15.617 |
| 39 | 9901 | Brian Caprara | 3 | 12:26:38.305 | 05:20:05.817 |
| 40 | 51 | Inaki Lanzagorta | 3 | 12:27:08.844 | 05:20:36.356 |
| 41 | 97 | Jeremy Hammer | 3 | 12:55:31.757 | 05:48:59.269 |
| 42 | 725 | Chris May | 3 | 12:59:30.752 | 05:52:58.264 |
| 43 | 100 | Fabio Manno | 3 | 13:01:56.460 | 05:55:23.972 |
| 44 | 929 | Michael Feagins | 3 | 13:54:01.301 | 06:47:28.813 |
| DNF | 48 | Cameron Steele | 2 | 04:16:46.977 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 4448 | Randy Slawson | 2 | 04:17:20.884 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 46 | Rusty Blyler | 2 | 04:31:58.649 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 888 | Cody Addington | 2 | 04:44:59.449 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 4414 | Jason Shipman | 2 | 04:55:08.236 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 54 | Michael Bou | 2 | 05:09:29.013 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 20 | Derek West | 2 | 05:26:35.634 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 129 | Ross Pilgreen | 2 | 06:20:03.932 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 479 | Quintin Hilburn | 2 | 06:29:19.481 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 19 | Paul Horschel | 2 | 06:29:32.173 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 666 | Matt Thorson | 2 | 06:55:50.690 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 135 | Ian Koentges | 2 | 07:00:32.700 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 4531 | Shawn Rants | 2 | 07:38:37.230 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 4476 | Tyson Shimonek | 2 | 07:51:04.644 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 1505 | Tim Hooper | 2 | 07:58:50.807 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 1982 | Donald Fisher | 2 | 08:12:11.071 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 4434 | Kevin Yoder | 2 | 08:54:16.044 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 530 | Joe Hutchins | 2 | 09:29:45.964 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 1223 | Shabs Piercy | 2 | 10:24:53.426 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 4809 | Barry Smethurst | 2 | 10:55:42.377 | 1 Lap |
| DNF | 76 | Jason Scherer | 1 | 01:40:08.014 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 82 | JP Gomez | 1 | 01:47:08.825 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 3 | Wayland Campbell | 1 | 01:50:08.674 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 444 | Rick Waterbury | 1 | 01:50:41.328 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 34 | Jeff Mckinlay | 1 | 01:52:24.686 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 33 | Michael Bergman | 1 | 01:52:41.375 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 966 | Jason Blanton | 1 | 01:52:46.334 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 9 | Bryan Crofts | 1 | 01:53:50.927 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 4480 | Kris Hicks | 1 | 02:03:07.348 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 406 | Corey Johnson | 1 | 02:16:46.262 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 308 | James Mahoney | 1 | 02:17:09.475 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 49 | Matt Burkett | 1 | 02:17:44.153 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 5150 | Brendon Thompson | 1 | 02:27:06.639 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 4426 | Kevin Porterfield | 1 | 02:29:14.408 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 2812 | Bernd Schaefer | 1 | 02:29:33.150 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 4473 | Brent Goegebuer | 1 | 02:32:00.055 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 270 | Brian McVay | 1 | 02:51:17.722 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 4412 | Eric Foster | 1 | 02:56:41.005 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 5772 | Evan Berman | 1 | 03:04:46.939 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 7779 | Kenneth Goodall | 1 | 03:32:21.922 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 321 | Thomas Wayes | 1 | 03:33:45.522 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 24 | Zandy Willems | 1 | 03:52:11.577 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 1977 | Jake Yeoman | 1 | 04:03:47.588 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 697 | Gregory Stearns | 1 | 04:21:46.877 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 18 | Justin Pawlak | 1 | 04:26:58.356 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 4447 | Patrick Peterson | 1 | 04:27:26.528 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 74 | Jeren Gunter | 1 | 04:31:24.997 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 920 | Eric Blaies | 1 | 05:22:36.755 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 1427 | Damon Hopper | 1 | 06:27:52.704 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 618 | Casey Gilbert | 1 | 07:00:40.127 | 2 Laps |
| DNF | 2 | Casey Currie | 00:00:00.000 | 3 Laps | |
| DNF | 10 | David Oliver | 00:00:00.000 | 3 Laps | |
| DNF | 12 | Jeff McCullough | 00:00:00.000 | 3 Laps | |
| DNF | 31 | Matt Trebino | 00:00:00.000 | 3 Laps | |
| DNF | 90 | Darian Gomez | 00:00:00.000 | 3 Laps | |
| DNF | 98 | Jordan Pellegrino | 00:00:00.000 | 3 Laps | |
| DNF | 210 | Greg Adler | 00:00:00.000 | 3 Laps | |
| DNF | 553 | Darrell Krebsbach | 00:00:00.000 | 3 Laps | |
| DNF | 636 | Magnus Sigurdsson | 00:00:00.000 | 3 Laps | |
| DNF | 1001 | Curtis Warner | 00:00:00.000 | 3 Laps | |
| DNF | 4410 | Jay Callaway | 00:00:00.000 | 3 Laps | |
| DNS | 456 | Chad Hundt | |||
| DNS | 630 | Michael Heston | |||
| DNS | 4405 | Derrick Luedtka | |||
| DNS | 4408 | Stan Haynes | |||
| DNS | 4487 | Matt Nieman |
King of the Hammers concludes today with Progressive King of the Motos, streaming live beginning at 11AM PT/2PM ET. Click here to watch!
