2017 Can-Am King of the Hammers Johnson Valley, California UTV / SXS Racing February 8, 2017

Wayland Campbell was running hard on the first lap when he was sidelined with a belt issue. He recovered quickly, and even spent some time winching his sister Bailey out of a hole. Bailey was also in the mix early before being taken out of contention with a mechanical problem. Wayland took second coming through Chocolate Thunder’s big uphill section when Jon Crowley and Reid Nordin got caught up in a rocky section.

FOX's Wayland Campbell made his way into the 2nd spot when Rugged Radio's Reid Nordin briefly got stuck in the rocks at Chocolate Thunder

“We were really hauling ass at the beginning, but we blew a belt,” said Wayland Campbell. “We spent a good amount of time fixing that, but after that it was smooth sailing. I did have to use my winch once to pull my sister out of a hole she got stuck in.”

#3 Wayland Campbell held on to claim the 2nd place finish behind his father, Shannon, & he did it again on Friday in the 4400 Truck Class

Reid Nordin, who usually spends KOH weekend coaching drivers, took his first start since 2010. He rebounded from a pileup in Sledgehammer to net the third place finish in his low gear ratio Polaris RZR sponsored by Rugged Radios.

Reid Nordin & Jon Crowley dropped back to third place with time adjustment when they got hung up at Chocolate Thunder

“There was a little wedge action between Mitch Guthrie, Sr., Bailey Campbell and I all at the top of Sledgehammer,” explained Nordin. “I thought that was going to be the end for us. We were stuck there for awhile. I didn’t really want to do the race this year because I keep telling everyone I’m retired. But I wanted to test our shocks and our wheels so for me it was an exercise to say we could do it. This XP1000 against all these turbos is something else. This is the low gear ratio model and it just ran flawlessly. This was not the right vehicle for this race, but it just shows how good this vehicle is. It wasn’t a perfect race, but it was a fun race.”

Walker Evans' Reid Nordin & Jon Crowley rounded out the top three on the UTV podium at the 2017 Can-Am King of the Hammers

Erik Miller, who traveled all the way from Cumberland, MD to compete, was racing a 2015 Polaris XP1000. Fuel issues slowed him during the race so he was happy to finish fourth in what was a trying race. It marked Miller’s third year competing here.

Erik Miller claimed the 4th spot overall at the 2017 KOH UTV race