JP Gomez passes 98 cars to headline 2024 Kings of the Hammers

Kyle Chaney was hoping to make his Can-Am Maverick R the first UTV ever to win the King of the Hammers‘ Nitto Race of Kings, and he did everything in his power to turn it into a reality. Despite breaking the left front suspension and driving with three wheels during the closing stretch, he managed to reach the finish before everyone else.

“This is probably the worst car I’ve drove,” said an emotional Chaney at the finish. “It was really bad all day and we just kind of kept it together. I don’t know if we blew our shocks in qualifying but I didn’t drive the car after qualifying and it was like we drove on blown shocks all day and they finally gave out at the end, but Terry (Madden) got me here to the end and here we are.”

Madden, a Baja star on the heels of winning the Baja 1000‘s Pro Stock UTV class in November with the legendary Block family, added “this is actually the last place I thought we’d be today. Our goal was to get it to the podium.”

It was a dream ending to a chaotic race week for Chaney, who flipped his car during qualifying for the Toyo Tires Desert Challenge, then bounced back by winning the Can-Am UTV Hammers Championship for the fourth year in a row. Unfortunately, the dream became a nightmare when he received 52 minutes and 10 seconds of penalties for missing a virtual checkpoint then taking a bypass while navigating through the Check Me Out sector.

“I was too focused on the 4900 race (UTV) that I did not do my homework on the 4400 (Race of Kings),” Chaney subsequently remarked. He officially finished eighth overall as a result.

However, the win was still just out of reach even if he was not penalised as JP Gomez arrived at the finish after him with a faster time by 9:55. The victory was the third in a row for the Gomez family after his brother Raul Gomez claimed the 2022 and 2023 editions.

Gomez started at the back in 99th, forcing him to work his way through the field for all three laps. At the front, Raul held the advantage for much of the day before rolling; Casey Currie capitalised on this to take the lead, only for his driveshaft to break. His exit cycled Chaney to the lead with Loren Healy in tow, and the latter took the lead with two miles remaining before the transmission failed.

As the leaders fell, Gomez simply needed to chase down Chaney and set the faster overall time, which he successfully pulled off in his UFO Fabrication-built buggy.

After an emphatic “Hell yeah!”, Gomez commented that it was “embarrassing to change a tyre on TV in front of the helicopter by myself. I couldn’t leave it out there then I would have gotten called out, put that goddamn thing back on, holy shit! (Brett) Harrell back here, he winched me and then I burned out on him and I flipped his car over on accident, so I guess it all worked out.

“My heart sank, Raul was flipped over on Big Johnson. Loren passed me like a bat out of hell and I was like, ‘Man, I must be driving really slow.’ Oh man, that was a race.

“I got down to Outer Limits and there was Erik Miller, Jason Scherer, Cade Rodd, Marcos (Gomez, JP and Raul’s brother) and Raul got through and some other guys. After I got through there, thank you Jason for spotting me and letting me run over his car, that was it. Me and Harrell battled here at the end, and it was pretty open.”

While coming up short in the Race of Kings, at least Chaney still left Hammertown with a trophy thanks to his dominant run in the UTV race. Chaney led from start to finish as those behind him scuffled for position, eventually beating Dakar Rally Challenger runner-up Mitch Guthrie by six minutes. Chaney’s Can-Am team-mate Phil Blurton held on for third after a dramatic battle with CJ Greaves and reigning SCORE International Pro UTV Open champion Brock Heger that was highlighted (or lowlighted?) by the trio getting stuck together in Chocolate Thunder.

Robby Gordon placed seventeenth in the UTV Championship while son Max Gordon was twenty spots back, a two-for-two family finish after both of their SPEED UTVs retired from their KOH début in 2023. Madden, defending Baja 1000 champion Bryce Menzies, Greaves’ father Johnny Greaves, motocross and rallycross star Brian Deegan, and even Gomez were among the race’s retirements.

After hosting the season opener during the fortnight-long event in 2023, Great American Shortcourse did not return to KOH for 2024.

Overall winners

Event	Date	Number	Winner	Class	Total Time
Liqui Moly King of the Motos	20/21 January	2	Cody Webb	Pro	3:25:34
Toyo Tires Desert Challenge	27 January	94	Christopher Polvoorde	T1	3:16:58
Baja Vida Class 11 Showdown	27 January	1157	Blake Wilkey	Class 11	58:50
Kids 170	30 January	114	Brixton Wirt	Limited	32:08
Can-Am UTV Hammers Championship	1 February	191	Kyle Chaney	Pro Mod UTV	3:57:28
Every Man Challenge	2 February	4848	Randy Slawson	4800 Legends Class	4:46:41
Nitto Race of Kings	3 February	82	JP Gomez	4400 Unlimited	6:27:44

Class winners

King of the Motos

Class	Overall Finish	Number	Winner	Total Time	Laps	Margin
A	18	131	Riley Bender	5:35:30	12	+ 2:09:56
A 40+	19	75	Rodrigo Lopes	5:29:15	11	+ 1 Lap
A 50+	39	717	Alden Anderson	5:20:58	7	+ 5 Laps
A Vet	26	224	Brandon Wakefield	5:11:58	9	+ 3 Laps
B	36	1515	Boogie Rivera	5:46:06	8	+ 4 Laps
B 40+	67	1969	Kellen Kjera	4:37:13	4	+ 8 Laps
C	74	1164	Chase Fino	4:29:33	4	+ 8 Laps
Pro	1	2	Cody Webb	3:25:34	12	Leader
Pro Women	68	177	Louise Forsley	4:08:33	4	+ 8 Laps
Sportsman 4-Stroke	29	269	Anson Maloney	5:31:32	9	+ 3 Laps
Women	103	2222	Carly Paet	3:30:26	2	+ 10 Laps
Youth	82	2200	Nolan Albrecht	5:09:56	4	+ 8 Laps

Kids 170 Limited

Class	Overall Finish	Number	Winner	Total Time	Laps	Margin
Limited	1	114	Brixton Wirt	32:08	26	Leader
Stock	7	339	Claire Dixon	33:13	24	+ 2 Laps

Toyo Tires Desert Challenge

Unlimited

Class	Overall Finish	Number	Winner	Total Time	Margin
Buggy	25	153	Adam Lunn	3:41:28	+ 24:30
T1	1	94	Christopher Polvoorde	3:16:58	Leader
T2	4	272	Dustin Grabowski	3:29:22	+ 12:24

Limited

Class	Overall Finish	Number	Winner	Total Time	Margin
Desert Stock	43	4689	Kendall Glines	6:08:36	+ 2:33:13
Desert Vintage Buggy	32	1673	Michael Ward	5:11:26	+ 1:36:03
UTV Open	1	1896	Brock Heger	3:35:23	Leader
UTV Pro Modified	5	898	Joe Terrana	3:47:29	+ 12:06
UTV Pro Stock	9	2910	Rodrigo Ampudia	3:56:55	+ 21:32

Can-Am UTV Hammers Championship

Class	Overall Finish	Number	Winner	Total Time	Margin
Open	2	51	Mitch Guthrie	4:03:22	+ 5:54
Pro Modified	1	191	Kyle Chaney	3:57:28	Leader
Pro Stock Normally Aspirated	DNF	N/A	No Finishers	DNF	N/A
Pro Stock Turbo	4	1896	Brock Heger	4:06:46	+ 9:18
Sportsman Stock	6	777	Zach Szymik	4:27:33	+ 30:05

Every Man Challenge

Class	Overall Finish	Number	Winner	Total Time	Margin
4500 Modified	13	26	Duane Garretson	6:22:07	+ 1:35:26
4600 Stock	18	4654	Bailey Cole	6:40:42	+ 1:54:01
4800 Legends	1	4848	Randy Slawson	4:46:41	Leader
Ultra4 EV	DNF	N/A	No Finishers	DNF	N/A

Nitto Race of Kings top ten

Finish	Number	Driver	Total Time	Margin
1	82	JP Gomez	6:27:44	Leader
2	4456	Brett Harrell	6:52:01	+ 24:17
3	4468	John Webb	7:05:11	+ 37:27
4	8	Daniel Fresh	7:20:44	+ 53:00
5	21	Erik Miller	7:23:56	+ 56:12
6	25	Vaughn Gittin Jr.	7:27:16	+ 59:32
7	906	Tad Dowker	7:27:59	+ 1:00:15
8	191	Kyle Chaney	7:29:50	+ 1:02:06
9	11	Kevin Stearns	7:32:16	+ 1:04:32
10	7	Cade Rodd	7:37:01	+ 1:09:17