2009 King of The Hammers Winner and PSC driver, Jason Scherer started the race in the pole position and maintained a significant lead throughout the first few laps. However, issues with clogged fuel injectors saw him slip into 5th place on the 3rd lap. After replacing four of his eight injectors, Scherer had 65 miles left and needed to not only overtake the four cars that had passed him, but also to finish five minutes ahead of Chris Hoyt and three minutes ahead of 2nd place Jason Shipman to be declared the winner of the PSC Brawl in Blackwell. With his fastest lap time of the entire race – 1 hour and 2 minutes, Scherer was able to overtake the physical lead and have an overall finish time that was more than two minutes ahead of 2nd place Ultra4 driver, Jason Shipman.
Ultimately, it would be 1st place, Jason Scherer, 2nd Place Jason Shipman, 3rd place Chris Hoyt, 4th Place Mike Colville and 5th place, Ultra4 Nitto Tire National Champion, Nick Nelson. The top 5 drivers were a true mix of east meets west; Shipman and Colville both gaining entry into the race from 4WD Hardware Eastern Regional Series and Scherer, Hoyt and Nelson all part of the Trail-Gear Western Regional Series.
Blackwell, Texas was also the last race in 2012 that would grant entry to 2012 Ultra4 drivers into the 2013 Griffin King of The Hammers race. 25 of the 48 drivers competing in the PSC Brawl in Blackwell had not yet qualified to compete in Johnson Valley in February. After this weekend’s race, 11 teams qualified by successfully completing the PSC Brawl in Blackwell and an additional 5 teams qualified based on series points and having raced a minimum of 3 races including Texas in the Ultra4 Series.
The following is the complete list of drivers and their finishing order.
Place | Car# | Driver Name | Final Time | KOH Qual |
1 | 76 | Jason Scherer | 4:45:34 (1) | * |
2 | 4414 | Jason Shipman | 4:47:54 (2) | * |
3 | 53 | Chris Hoyt | 4:48:21 (3) | * |
4 | 4418 | Mike Colville | 4:49:26 (4) | * |
5 | 4404 | Nick Nelson | 5:00:57 (5) | * |
6 | 4428 | Loren Healy | 5:08:51 (6) | * |
7 | 4481 | Alex Hardaway | 5:11:37 (7) | t |
8 | 4403 | Ben Dinkins | 5:12:36 (8) | * |
9 | 4446 | Gary Ferravanti Sr | 5:25:33 (9) | * |
10 | 26 | Clay Gilstrap | 5:26:34 (10) | t |
11 | 4429 | Travis Watford | 5:33:54 (11) | t |
12 | 4580 | Jordan Townsend | 5:34:46 (12) | t |
13 | 4419 | Jeremy Dickenson | 5:46:14 (13) | * |
14 | 4441 | Darren Henke | 5:49:25 (14) | * |
15 | 321 | Tom Wayes | 5:49:41 (15) | * |
16 | 4471 | TJ Flores | 6:03:02 (16) | * |
17 | 4476 | Kevin Gamble | 6:03:18 (17) | t |
18 | 524 | Mark Danzo | 6:07:25 (18) | t |
19 | 4472 | Dustin Isenhour | 6:13:22 (19) | t |
20 | 4444 | Jason Pickett | 6:24:02 (20) | * |
21 | 69 | Toby Harrell | 6:25:11 (21) | t |
22 | 81 | Levi Shirley | 6:28:15 (22) | * |
23 | 927 | Doug Kahlstrom | 6:37:32 (23) | t |
24 | 890 | Jonathan Terhune | 6:39:03 (24) | * |
25 | 4456 | Mike Feagins | 6:46:34 (25) | t |
26 | 4469 | Jack Childers | 6:50:13 (26) | t |
DNF | 429 | Troy Stone | s | |
DNF | 104 | Jim Brown | s | |
DNF | 4470 | Clint Ellett | s | |
DNF | 701 | Greg Lundeen | s | |
DNF | 338 | Matt Peterson | s | |
DNF | 4455 | Andy Brown | * | |
DNF | 4343 | Tim Diekmann | * | |
DNF | 4436 | Kim Matzen | ||
DNF | 595 | Tony Arledge | ||
DNF | 18 | Brian Shirley | * | |
DNF | 33 | Spencer Murphy | ||
DNF | 4433 | Adam Carter | ||
DNF | 4420 | Derek West | * | |
DNF | 4421 | Erik Miller | * | |
DNF | 9 | Scott Decker | ||
DNF | 49 | Matt Burkett | ||
DNF | 63 | Nathan Unruh | ||
DNF | 5252 | Bill Baird | * | |
DNF | 4407 | Cottin Rodd | * | |
DNF | 5 | Shannon Campbell | * | |
DNF | 42 | Aaron Peters | ||
DNF | 4452 | Will Carter | * | |
DNS | 366 | John Sweet | * | |
DNS | 4 | Mike Odom | ||
S = Series Qualified | ||||
T = Texas Qualified | ||||
* Already Qualified |
Scherer Photo Courtesy of T. Kingston of Spidertrax Off Road.
ABOUT ULTRA4 RACING
Ultra4 is a vehicle type, class and series. Ultra4 Racing was born from the popularity of the annual Griffin King of the Hammers, considered to be the toughest one-day off-road race. The vehicles are unlimited four-wheel drive, capable of competing in multiple racing disciplines – extreme rock crawling, high-speed desert racing and short course. In five years, the sport has grown significantly from the inaugural King of the Hammers to an eight race national series including a regional east and west championship and a three-race pro series. Ultra4 Racing is managed by Hammerking Productions located in Lake Arrowhead, CA. To learn more, log on to www.ultra4racing.com.