King of the Hammers 2025 Coverage Continued

Profiling the class winners.

As the results pages continue to update, we have to circle back to share the news of the winners of the various classes and designations.

Kyle Chaney

Can-Am made history at the 2025 King of the Hammers in Johnson Valley, California, as Kyle Chaney became the first driver to win the 4400 Unlimited class in a modified UTV. Chaney and his co-driver Terry Madden navigated the unforgiving terrain with precision and perseverance in their Can-Am Maverick R, crossing the finish line over 30 minutes ahead of their closest competitor. This win represents a milestone in Can-Am’s history, as the 4400 Unlimited class has historically been won only by custom-built trucks and buggies with high-horsepower engines.

“We are immensely proud of Kyle’s achievement and the effort our team put into this race,” said Jean-Francois Leclerc, BRP Race Manager. “King of the Hammers is unlike any other race with the mix of high-speed desert terrain and technical, rocky canyons. We knew it would be difficult, but we put some of our best racers in the pack to go for the win. To see the Maverick R prevail against vehicles from major automotive manufacturers with three times the horsepower is very gratifying to say the least.”

Widely considered the crown jewel of the King of the Hammers week of races, the 4400 Unlimited race consisted of three different laps, each presenting its own unique challenge to test the driver’s skills and the capabilities of their machines.

After qualifying fourth, Chaney started on the second row. He remained in the top six throughout the first lap before working his way into the lead on lap two. Lap three required immense navigational skill, as this portion of the course was not made public until the day before the race and the drivers could not pre-run it. Chaney’s co-driver Terry Madden kept them on track, playing a crucial role in their success. Proving the potential of the Maverick R platform, Chaney and Madden emerged victorious with a time of 7 hours, 53 minutes and 45 seconds.

“We drove our best and my crew put everything they had into this. I have to thank Can-Am and CT Race Worx for building this car for us to battle against all the top guys in the 4400 race. We picked some good lines and Terry was awesome with the navigation. The third lap was crazy, we had no idea where we were going. There were no trails, we just had to pick our lines as we went and stay close to the checkpoints. We did our best to take care of the car all day, but you know, it’s a Can-Am, it never quits!”

Kyle Chaney, Cody Miller and Hunter Miller were the only drivers to contest the 4400 Unlimited race in UTVs. Can-Am partnered with CT Race Worx to modify the Maverick R to meet the specifications of the 4400 Unlimited race. The vehicles maintained the powertrain and geometry of a stock Maverick R, except for the chassis adjustments needed to fit 37-inch tires. Cody and Hunter Miller also showed promising pace, with Cody running in second place until the late stages of the race. Unfortunately, both of their races were cut short due to technical issues.

In addition to Chaney’s success in the 4400 Unlimited race, Can-Am drivers swept the podium in the Pro Mod class of the UTV Hammers Championship race. Cody Miller secured the Pro Mod win and second overall, while Nathan Parker finished second in Pro Mod and third overall, and Paul Wolf rounded out the podium with third in Pro Mod. All three racers showcased the performance, reliability and toughness of the Can-Am Maverick R.

Can-Am’s racers will be back in action at the 2025 San Felipe 250 on Saturday, April 5.

Brock Heger

In the Johnson Valley desert, RZR Factory Racing’s Brock Heger didn’t just win the King of the Hammers (KOH) UTV Hammers Championship—he dominated. Fresh off his wire-to-wire victory at the Desert Challenge less than a week prior, Heger was in a league of his own behind the wheel of his rock-ready RZR Pro R Factory, securing the overall win as the only driver to finish in under four hours while crossing the line an astonishing 26 minutes ahead of the next physical competitor. By continuing his relentless winning streak, Heger secured the ultimate off-road Triple Crown, a feat no other driver has achieved, by adding this latest triumph to his historic wins at the 2024 Baja 1000 and 2025 Dakar Rally. Once again, Heger has made one thing clear—when it comes to the toughest challenges in off-road racing, no one does it better than Polaris.

Heger started the race from the second line after qualifying third, and once the green flag waved, it was clear that this would be another commanding performance. Much like his earlier Desert Challenge victory, Heger quickly surged into the lead and never looked back. Setting a blistering pace from the start, he had already stretched out a nearly 2-minute lead by mile 50. Heger’s strategy was clear: get out front in the desert portion of the race to position himself perfectly for the intense rock sections ahead, and he executed it flawlessly. There were only two brief moments where he encountered slight hang-ups in the rock section, but after his co-driver quickly assessed the situation, Brock chose not to use his winch. Instead, he relied on his skill and experience to overcome the obstacles and get back on track, losing minimal time in the process. Once clear, Heger drove easily uncontested to the finish line.

Throughout the entirety of the 3-hour and 57-minute race, Heger’s RZR Pro R Factory withstood everything the challenging KOH course threw at it, showcasing the true strength and durability of the platform. In fact, unlike his competition, Heger was able to save valuable time by not pitting for fuel throughout the entire race, thanks to the RZR Pro R Factory’s 130L fuel cell.

“I’m stoked to come away with another win and to put Polaris back on top, especially during this UTV Hammers event,” said Heger. “This was the hardest King of the Hammers I’ve done, but it was so much fun. My RZR Pro R Factory performed flawlessly all day, and overall, our day went very smoothly. I almost used the winch a couple of times, but it was taking too long, so I just sent it and it worked out. I can’t thank the entire Polaris team enough. We have so many great people behind us, and it truly takes a team effort to make something like this happen.”

Heger and the rest of the RZR Factory Racing team will be back in action in one month at the Mint 400 in Las Vegas, NV, March 5-9, 2025.

Jeremy McGrath

Dubbed the world’s toughest one-day off-road race, the King of the Hammers saw the UTV classes take to the course on Thursday with Jeremy McGrath piloting his Kawasaki Teryx KRX 1000 to the Pro Stock NA UTV class win. The King of Supercross showed his meddle in the rocks as he took creative lines combined with the strength and capability of his Teryx to conquer sections of the course where others had to winch and were experiencing mechanical failures, allowing him to ultimately pass 32 competitors on his over eight-hour race to the finish line. McGrath finished 19th overall after starting in 51st, competing against 128 competitors who started the race, including heavily modified UTV’s and finished second amongst the stock class UTV’s racing turbo-charged competitors despite driving a naturally aspirated car.

Chilly temperatures greeted the racers at the starting line as they took on the difficult course that includes flat-out desert sections as well as technical rock crawls. The two-lap race traverses through world famous obstacles like Chocolate Thunder, Jackhammer and Backdoor challenging the car and driver to make it to the finish line.

In a race where just getting to the finish line is a victory, McGrath relied on quick work from his pit crew to stay in the race and creative thinking from his co-driver Jaren Porter to find the best lines through the traffic-jammed rock sections. Overall McGrath finished in the top 20 and drove his MAXXIS-sponsored Teryx KRX 1000 to the Pro Stock NA UTV class win in a time of 8:45:30. The King of Supercross finished less than 30 minutes behind the Pro Stock Turbo UTV class winner to earn second amongst all the Pro Stock racers.

“It was a long day, we had a good time and man, it was an adventure, and my Kawasaki KRX held up nice all day,” McGrath said. “We had a great pitstop and Chris and the boys did a great job getting us back out after battling front lower arm issues. I don’t think we would have made the finish without them. We had to stop several times to tighten some things up, but it worked out great for us. My co-driver Jarren was great out there, using that Warn winch to pull and tow us up some pretty crazy lines. There people jammed up everywhere. Jackhammer was the worst; I think we were sitting there for an hour. We finally got through and we just kept on trucking. The course was super tough, they threw everything at us today. My Kawasaki was running great and my MAXXIS tries were hooked, helping climb all the rocks. It was great to see everyone cheering us on out on the course. I want to thank everyone for all the support we got this year, we couldn’t have done it without everyone pitching in.”