King of the Hammer Trails Competition

Today on off road action,

Rawlings

racing in a one of a kind desert event known as King of the Hammers.

This gearhead proves you don't need a big money truck to be a competitive racer.

And the world converges in the woods of Lake Superior for precision driven championship trial.

Two wheels are for, it doesn't matter because we're crisscrossing the country in search of off road action.

There's always been this debate between rock crawlers and desert racers whose sport is better, who's the best driver? Well, the off road community got to find out when a group of guys decided to turn the Hammer trails into one killer racecourse.

It happened in the

Mojave two hours northeast of Los Angeles.

I've been dreaming about an event like this for a long time. 43 drivers came out to the

Mojave desert for the first ever King of the Hammers race. It's a huge event. I think this king of the Hammers events. The first time

desert

and rock crawling have gotten together a 50 mile one lap loop. The course features 40 miles of open desert racing.

We're in the

Mojave desert, the toughest desert land in the United States and 10 of the Hammer Trails. I think it's probably in my opinion, the coolest concept race, Jeff Noel and David Cole brought this concept race to life. Bottom line racers like racing. We tried to come with something that's really gonna push the limits. What they came up with is the toughest one day off road event in the world.

This is the Baha

1000 of rock crawling. It's pretty gnarly out there

with names like Jack Hammer, claw, hammer, and sledge hammer. The hammer portion of the race wasn't just gnarly. It was pure evil.

It just seems that the most constant nonstop big rocks and obstacles is here. These are hardcore rock crawling trails.

The rocks here are brutal. This rock out here is jagged. It's nasty.

It will cut your tires, it will cave in your vehicle. It'll rip you apart if you don't know how to maneuver through this type of train,

it didn't get any easier when they hit the desert.

These vehicles are not made for 18 inch whoop sections at 60 miles an hour.

So it's gonna be some excitement out there.

You got to watch out for the danger points out in the desert because that can end your race in a hurry. They've got the whoop trails, they've just got washouts, cross grains,

you know, you got to be ready for it all. You got to pay attention no matter how ready they were. Trouble was a constant companion. I think attrition is going to be huge.

We're probably gonna be driving over tires and tubes and

goods. It's a thinking race. Like you can't push your car too hard. You're gonna break it. You can't go 1000 miles an hour through the rock sections where you definitely could drive faster than your car would really want to go in the desert. So I think you got to pick an achievable pace. Once the race started, they quickly learned that no pace guaranteed survival.

Plus the rear cable shifter here,

we don't have no rear.

We got front wheel drive, flat tire.

We're still gonna go

and no brake. Yeah, I forgot about that. Littering the course was a trail of destruction.

It's total carnage out there. You know, I mean, it's,

it's like you're just driving it to the scene of the crash early on Jr Reynolds was out front.

His lead didn't last long. First, we had a little vapor lock problem that slowed us down about

eight or 10 minutes

and then we came back and, uh, tore the front Len Mount off the car

and we were saying goodbye to everybody and we went 10 ft and we got a flat tire. What else could I

with the flat fixed Jr was ready to get back in the game at

least

three

hours of delays. Now, get back on the road here. We're going to still be some people at

the king of the hammers. That kind of optimism only gets you so far. And for Jr Reynolds, it got him 25 ft

upper. L

mount broke again.

Is that what broke

the first

time?

And as far as I know there's no warranty on it.

So I think it's out of my pocket this time,

the breakage these drivers had to endure only made them more determined.

Oh, we're gonna fix it. And eventually

that's what our

plan

is.

This

is

beating you to death

one minute

wide, open the next.

It's, it's perfect.

Both a desert and rock race. All the red sections are rock crawling sections and the other is just regular desert

rig set up for the king of the hammers had drivers scratching their heads right up to race time.

We've been spending the last couple of nights revolving shocks and getting them tuned where they can handle the desert

and do well on the rocks.

You kind, you kind of riding a fine line there. Our suspension on this vehicle is set up more for the

rock

throwing sections than it is the desert sections.

But we're gambling on that hoping that we can do real well in the rocks. Maybe not quite so good in the desert.

But that, that's our strategy. That's the way we're approaching this race. Pro desert racer, Pete son

wasn't a believer in the rock first strategy. They don't know what all this desert is going to do to their cars because they don't race for six

miles at a time. They just do little short stints. And

I think it's gonna be a big surprise for both groups leaving the gate one at a time in 32nd intervals. The start position was picked from a hat.

We drew 34.

The trails really tight. There's some bottlenecks up there.

Realistically, I don't know

anyone else at the top 15 could win this thing, but we'll see rock crawling. Great. Shannon

Shambles started last. They're like, Shannon, you're starting last. And I thought they were joking and I was like, what? But once I found out I drew last, you know, what do you do? What Shannon did will be talked about by future generations. He powered through the field dominated the rocks and blazed through the desert. You ride that junk. He crossed the finish line in three hours to become the first ever king of the hammers

past the entire field, came in here and it was done his interviews and laugh and by the time second place came across the finish line, he's, he's astonishing. I mean, a

P A phenomenal driver doing that. That was, that was cool. I mean, it, it'll give me something to tell my kids about later on, you know,

starting last, finishing first. It's the stuff of legend. Now it's balance and precision. Combined with a lot of guts.

It's called trials where motorcycles climb mountains

later on. Off road action, the thrills and spills of world competition.

But up next, he's a fan favorite at four wheel jamborees nationwide.

Roger Cara

and his low budget bubble Bronco. When off road action continues,

shop truck tires.com for the best prices on the biggest gnarliest truck tires. All the best brands starting as low as 158 95 for trailing crawling or just cruising, get the guaranteed lowest prices. You'll never overpay at shop truck tires.

One of my favorite places to go come. Springtime is a four wheel Jamboree. You know why?

Just about anything off road can be had

truck racing fanatics around the country. There's nothing bigger or better than the four wheel Jamboree.

This is the largest truck show in the world

and, uh, we have a series of eight of these that take place all over the United States. We've got, uh,

just about

everything that you could have for a state fair for gearheads from monster trucks to rock crawling.

Tough trucks to the biggest show and shine on the planet. The Jamboree ain't no pony show

since the Jamboree began here 27 years ago. The trucks may have changed, but one thing remains the same.

This is truly the greatest show on earth

with its pinned to the ground speed and axle shaken jumps. Mickey Thompson's tough Truck challenge isn't for Wimps. It's 100%. It's extreme four wheel drive

for these racers. It doesn't get any more radical than Indy's s shaped track.

Hold to the floor. It's go time.

You ever race Motocross drag racing circle track?

You take all of them

and put it all in one little realm. You know, you're racing, it's close and you just stand on it and go. Sometimes they go too far.

I'm fine. I'm fine. I lost my sunglasses but other than that I'm doing good.

I knew it was gonna be a roll of the dice. Whether I was able to land right off that last jump or not. I think racers is just their own pride. They think they can save any truck in any situation and,

and that time I got a little bit too far over and couldn't pull her back.

These one on one smack it down. Elimination races aren't just about gunning it.

You have to be a little finesse about it. I've seen guys just smash the throttle and

they don't go, they break, they're done. You don't even see the guy in the other lane.

You focus on your truck, you focus on the track and I'm serious about focusing on your truck because you are part of that truck.

It's great. It's something else racing. Tough trucks since 1985. Roger became an instant fan favorite when he debuted as Bubba Bronco. 11 years later, you don't have to be rich to get into this sport. I'm the poster child for that.

This truck here

has

nothing but maybe 5 to $7000 invested.

And the other trucks that are out there are all pushing

that

30 to $50,000 price range. And we're doing it with this,

even though he's running a 351 Windsor that pushes over 400 horses. Roger knows it takes more than power to win.

Have all kinds of horsepower.

But if you haven't got the suspension,

you're not going to go anywhere. You can have an 800 horse out there and a guy with an excellent suspension

and a stock motor, you know, 100 and 5200 horse could kick your butt. We'll take a look at the air ride suspension system.

What we have here are air bags that are used to lift the air tag on a semi truck.

Uh The shacks are rancho nine thousands. They're the adjustables, main links. We use hem

joints, these

hem joints,

uh instead of the high dollar chroma

joints that people would not like to use. I'm a farm boy.

These are actually off of a top L for a three point hitch on a farm track.

The uh front suspension on, this is pretty much

in a stock design

for the fans. They love watching Bubba take down the big dogs. I think when they see that this truck is out on the track, they know it's an underdog and they really root for the underdog

and uh come race time, we try not to disappoint them

trying to finish second final standings. Bubba and Roger were knocked out in the first round by Jeff

Dick,

but a rough showing wasn't enough to ruin Roger's weekend.

It's unlike anything else I've ever done.

I don't know of anything else I'd want to do. I love doing this stuff.

I have a lot of fun with it.

Gearheads having fun. You gotta love it

and we hope you'll get a kick out of what's coming up next week on off road action.

It's a two wheel dance. That's just plain idiotic motorcycle demolition derby.

Unbelievable.

When you think about the physics of a motorcycle climbing a mountain, you've got to think no way. Well, it's called trials. The bikes look strange. The riders are characters and the punishment they take is unbelievable. We're off to Duluth Minnesota to see for ourselves.

16 of the best riders on the planet came to Duluth Minnesota for two rounds of the world trial series and neither a day of blazing sunshine nor a day of rain slowed these guys from doing their gravity defying

acrobatics.

Sometimes we question whether they're actually human.

Uh, they,

they, they have unbelievable skill. They truly are, uh Olympic caliber world

class athletes,

uh, picture if you will. An Olympic gymnast, some sections,

it just, they just don't even know themselves if it's possible. But

if you're not sure you've just got to

wind it up and go. No, for the best, it looks easy. You know, when you see the real good guys riding, you're like, oh, it looks easy, but

it's really not that easy.

Testing the rider's balance, endurance and courage. The rules are the simplest thing about motorcycle trails.

They stay in bounds and don't put their foot down. They get a clean ride, zero points at the end of the day. The rider with the lowest total wins. These guys are the best riders in the world.

You know, everybody can twist the grip and hold it wide open and outbreak the next guy. But

when you're sitting on a log, you got to go up to some crazy thing, you got to hit it right on the money.

So everybody can dance but not everybody can do ballet. So

that's kind of like what trials is.

It's,

you know, not many people know exactly how

they can ride and just

watching them go the rocks and crashing too is amazing.

You never know what will happen. This sport is all about man and machine against Mother Nature and sometimes Mother Nature wins,

especially at this level. The margin of error just is non existent. It either goes all the way up the rock or it goes most of the way up the rock and all the way back down. And that's

generally not a good thing. I mean, it's a matter of inches and then you can up, you go or you spin and you're

off, you know,

it's a very mental game, really. Its trials. I mean, you just can't shut off at all. Um, that's when you start making mistakes.

These guys, they have iron will. They do things that,

you know, they're risking severe injury doing this

and they're just undaunted. It's amazing what they accomplished.

It may look like an individual sport, but that's hardly the case.

Ah,

this time fast it's become more of a team sport, but a good experienced team,

it's become really important

out

there.

Ok.

And behind every good rider is a great minder pointing out the way.

No,

with setting up the bike, get him lined up.

Uh, and when there's big steps,

you catch him at the top. If he's not going to make it,

you encourage him, try to keep him,

keep him in line. Well, you have to trust them 100% because if you start mocking that ideas and sometimes some minds get a little bit afraid of speaking their, their own opinion.

Dougie's minder is also his father and he isn't afraid to speak out. I do exactly as he asks. He says,

just say it once and say it loud

with seven straight world titles. The partnership works.

They didn't many

Children and

fathers could work together. It doesn't normally work, but it does with a business relationship

when we're biking and a family relationship when it finishes.

And again

there,

my father was a world champion in 75 the only other, uh, previous British trials world champion.

So, uh, yeah, it's sort of a bit of a family legacy that, uh,

I don't know what, what it is or how the success comes. Obviously, we do get a lot of support from the family and that is definitely an advantage with his family behind him. Dougie has gone on and made his name synonymous with a sport. He's always loved

followed trials all my life. I've never wanted to try anything else. I've never wanted to try Motocross or road racing or anything. I've always just loved trials. I still enjoy it as much now as what I did when I was sort of 56 years old just starting out,

um, still love riding a bike as often as possible. We still train every day. So, uh,

you know, when,

when that sort of, uh,

enjoyment goes out of it, I think, uh, that's when you've got to stop. It's the same as any other job. When, uh, when you don't enjoy it, you find something else

even with nothing left to prove. Dougie Lampkin has no plans of letting up.

So I'm obviously very happy with, uh, with my career, but

it's very strange that always striving for striving for more and

that's what we're all,

that's what everybody wants, isn't it? Its, uh,

obviously I love winning.

He loves winning. But will he win this competition?

Stay tuned to find out

if the nasty Minnesota terrain didn't get to the riders from Europe, Asia and North America. Then the pressure would

a

tight, closely contested match where the scores are low. You make one mistake could cost you to win on the day of the competition. It's, it's down to

the mental factor. Really. All the, the top 10 riders are

really, really close.

This comes down to

small things here and there. We love it and you just,

you sort of get used to it, really, you are nervous but you try and turn that into a positive thoughts more than anything else

to tackle these obstacles. Dougie competes on a motorcycle specially built for trials competition.

Ira, uh Montesa,

uh

Montesa is uh

a company that's owned by Honda.

Um Basically, it's a 250 cc single cylinder

uh two stroke machine. It weighs about 75 kg.

Basically, it's only got four gears and it'll probably only do about 70 miles an hour. It's, it's not a speed machine. There's no seat or anything like that, but

we just use the uh the bottom end torque, power of the,

the engine and the clutch

as well as a very soft suspension.

So it's very different to what you normally ride on the street. Good suspension as well as tire pressure can mix the difference between a low score of zero or a five.

Most of the riders use most tires, especially at the top and

we use about six pounds per square inch in the front and about four pounds per square inch in the rear. So they are very low.

They're not used for anything else really. They, they're only good for, they're not, not allowed for on road use or anything like that. So they,

especially for trials,

bike and rider got to work out on day one when the skies opened up.

Well, it's,

you never know about

it. Supposed

to be sunny today and it rains,

you take the mud, you put on the rock and

it's

too

downpours

weren't going to keep these fans from admiring the world's best.

Very few sports offer a spectator the opportunity that close

to a rider or competitor where you can actually look

at the expression on their face. You can see the sweat trickling down their face,

you can actually see their pulse rate. You know, you look in their eye, you can see the determination.

Taku

Fujinami

or Fuji gas as he's otherwise known, kept the crowd's pulse racing all afternoon and stayed with lampkin in the points. Then on the second loop, Dougie went down

hard.

I'm 53 years old and I rode professionally myself all my life. And I, I've see, I've ridden with Dougie Interstate and I've never seen anything like that.

It's definitely a very hard impact. And, uh, but I did the damage when I jumped back down, I landed on, uh, some sharp rocks in the bottom at the bottom of my back.

So, uh a little bit tender now,

never got his groove back and finished fourth as Fuji Gas went on to win the opening round for the past five years. Fuji Gas has finished second to lampkin in the championship. And when the Japanese rider went down under a blazing hot sun on day two, it looked like Dougie would have the edge he needed. But a mental mistake laid in the loop cost the brit big time.

Well,

just made a big mistake on section 13 went the wrong side of the flag. Um,

big, big mistake and it's cost me the victory. So I'm a little bit disappointed for that

to the chance of Fuji Gas. Fujinami

made Dougie pay for his mistake and took the win by three points to complete the American round sweep.

I like

because I, I'm, I'm studies same, same American style. No, always fas

and,

and I like, I like American

full gas from Fuji Gas, another unique off road event we hope you enjoyed here on off road action.

Well, that's it for today. Remember if it's on two wheels or four, we're on it.

I'm your host, MEREDITH.

We

and I'll see you next week

and speaking of next week, it's a high flying phone crushing episode that will leave you saying, what are they thinking

from sub

zero snow scrambles to a two wheel demolition.

It's off road action and it's all here. Same time. Same Channel.