Spidertrax | Thom Kingston | CC BY 3.0

We’re a few days late to the KOH recap party, thanks in large part to both a hard drive and CF card failure. Apparently our computers don’t like the desert as much as Spider 9 axles do (shameless plug). So first things first, a HUGE CONGRATS to Loren Healy, for taking top honors in this year’s 2014 King of the Hammers. For 178 miles, Loren raced his Spider 9 powered solid axle Ultra4 through easily the toughest terrain these United States has to offer. Never giving up, which always seems to be the recipe for success out in Johnson Valley, Loren crossed the finish line in just over 8 hours, roughly 15 minutes ahead of the 2nd place finisher.

Easily the toughest KOH yet, a huge honor to Loren for winning and for everyone else who managed to cross the finish line, which was 32 in total. That’s 32 finishers in a race made up of roughly 156 Ultra4s, or just under 21%. Yes, it was that hard. Finishing or not, we are still very blown away by the continued support we receive from all drivers and teams. No doubt Spider 9 axles have found their place in Ultra4, we are both grateful and honored just to be part of the action. It’s going to be an amazing year, and with 7 more US races and 4 European races still on the books, we’re just getting started.

Oh, and remember that hard drive and CF card failure? Yeah, those had all of our photos on it from KOH. Luckily, by a little technical magic, we managed to recover both failures and we’ll be back in full swing with photos to share. So, stay tuned this week (and likely a little of next week at this point) for some of our favorite shots from KOH.