Story and Photos by Valerie Douglas (unless otherwise noted)

Welcome to the 10th running of Nitto King Of the Hammers Powered by Optima Batteries! By no means have we had amazing weather this week, unless you consider 75 mph winds with occasional rain, sleet and snow amazing weather, but regardless by the thousands people have flocked to Means Dry Lake Bed in Johnson Valley, CA, to watch amazing people with amazing vehicles defy gravity. Last night was no different with the Vision X SRRS vs. Ultra4 Shootout presented by King Shocks.

Hammerking Productions moved the Shootout to Chocolate Thunder (CT) this year for the first time since the Shootout’s inception three years ago for safety reasons. Backdoor was getting too difficult to control the crowd, especially with 800-horsepower rock bouncers shooting up hillsides in a matter of seconds. Chocolate Thunder is a much more viable option, complete with waterfall and the ability to keep the crowd back from 54-inch tires spitting out boulders under horsepower.

What is up for grabs at the Vision X SRRS vs. Ultra4 Shootout presented by King Shocks? A mere $7,500 to the winner! Twenty-two Ultra4 competitors vs. 15 SRRS competitors.  For those not familiar with SRRS, they are rock bouncers: highly built chassis than can take a rollover and allow the vehicles to continue on their path, never mind that most have 600+ horsepower at the wheels – and the drivers, well, most of us think they are a bit off their rocker, if you know what I mean.

The Shootout had its fair share of carnage: rollover by the first competitor up the CT canyon, which took  a bit to recover, and then a Chevy Blazer beast of a machine broke more than a handful of parts that left him dead in the water just a few feet from the finish line.  Another competitor lost his driveshaft on the first obstacle… and remember I said it was cold. It was so cold out that one of the Ultra4 propane powered buggies had his propane freeze on him and therefor had no power. DOH!

In the end, Scott GoForth took the overall win and the fastest SRRS time at 38.343 seconds, which also earned him $7,500 for his efforts. In second place was fellow SRRS driver Joe Pierce who finished with a time of 40.055 seconds. Finishing in third and fastest among the Ultra4 cars was Jason Bartman, who was awarded $2,500. Bartman was followed by two other Ultra4 drivers, Brad Mullikin (40.545 sec.) and John Martinson (40.595 sec.) in fourth and fifth, respectively.

It may have been freezing out but that didn’t stop 5,000 fans from watching from the hillside. Thanks, brave fans! You are the reason we all flock to the lakebed every year for a week of racing action! Be sure to check back for more action from King of the Hammers week on Off-Road.com, or check out the live feed on our coverage page here.

Results Vision X ULTRA4 vs. SRRS Shootout Presented by King
1. Scott GoForth (SRRS, #33) – 38.343 – Overall Winner – SRRS
2. Joe Pierce (SRRS, 5) – 40.055
3. Jason Bartram  (U4, #6) – 40.237 – ULTRA4 Fastest
4. Brad Mullikin (U4, #24) – 40.545
5. John Martinson(U4, #9) – 40.595
6. Kenneth Reece (SRRS, #20) – 42.782
7. Matt Luster  (U4, #3) – 44.725
8. Tracker Bain (U4, #30)- 47.03
9. Shane Luenz (U4, #23) – 48.199
10. Colin Stricklan (U4, #11 – 48.58
11. Nolan Skopliak (SRRS, #2) – 48.866
12. Bailey Cole (U4, #39) – 49.103
13. Jason Gray (U4, #10) – 49.593
14. Matt Myrick (SRRS, #7) – 49.912
15. Aaron Selden (SRRS, #25) – 51.694
16. Steven Robinson (SRRS, #17) – 52.7
17. Heath Day  (SRRS, #38) – 53.965
18. Simon Gowring (U4, #22) – 55.599
19. Jason Crick (U4, #18) – 56.844
20. Chase Hunter (U4, #1) – 57.373
21. Mike Bishop (U4, #26) – 57.953
22. Jack Porter (SRRS, #35)  – 63.211
23. Jeff Noggle (U4, #28) – 66.565
24. Todd Gilbert (SRRS, #8) – 67.204
25. Jason Flurry (U4, # 34) – 79.443
26. Slade Martin (SRRS, #19) – 88.313
27. Robby Kubecik (SRRS, #29) – 89.961
28. Randall Key (SRRS, #27) – 102.49
29. Nick Langen  (U4, #16) – 115.44
30. CJ Bynum  (SRRS, #14) – 127.25
Arron Slikker (U4, #4) – DNF
John Rants (U4, #13) – DNF
Justin Cardwell (U4, #15) – DNF
Benjamin Denkers  (U4, #3) – DNF
Newly Tolf  (U4, #12) – DNF
Jason Moon (U4, #21) – DNF