Can Am Industry News

Cody Miller to Pilot his Can-Am Maverick X3 in Friday’s Nitto King of the Hammers

Cody Miller

By Jon Crowley

Cody Miller races a Can-Am Maverick X3 and competed in Sunday’s running of the Can-Am King of the Hammers UTV race where he placed 9th after experiencing a few mechanical issues. Cody finished the WORCS racing season with a Championship and raced King of the Hammers for his first time this year.

On Saturday, Miller set the fastest qualifying time for the Can-Am King of the Hammers UTV race with a time of 2:41. His brother Hunter set the second fastest time and started next to him on the pole for Sunday’s race. 

2020 Can-Am King of the Hammers UTV Qualifying results

Pos No. Name Class Best Tm Diff Gap
1 221 Cody Miller UTV 02:41.479    
2 190 Hunter Miller UTV 02:44.098 2.619 2.619

 

During the race on Sunday, Cody would suffer a huge setback when a rear shock bolt broke just 2 miles into the race.  Fixing the broken bolt with his co-dog cost them valuable time and he fought back through the pack and managed to finish the race in 9th place. 

Cody Miller

Cody Miller drops off of Back Door during the 2020 Can-Am King of the Hammers UTV Race

Cody’s brother Hunter would take the win in a historic sweep of the podium for Can-Am.

Can-Am Rules the 2020 King of the Hammers UTV Race, Completes Podium Sweep in Historic Victory

After the race, Cody and fellow Can-Am teammate Casey Currie concocted the plan for Cody to make a run in his Can-Am Maverick X3 during Friday’s Nitto King of the Hammers race. Cody tapped Hunter’s co-dog, Chad Hughes to co-dog during the big race on Friday. 

Cody Miller

Cody Miller’s Can-Am Maverick X3 next to a typical 4400 class unlimited buggy

Casey Currie’s team agreed to provide pit support, and Ultra4’s Dave Cole welcomed the idea and gave Cody a highly coveted spot in the race.

Cody Miller

Cody runs 32-inch Maxxis Rockzilla tires on his Can-Am Maverick X3 – Photo by Adam Campbell

On Tuesday, Cody Miller hit the qualifying course once again and posted an impressive 23rd up against purpose-built vehicles in the 4400 class that run 800+ Horsepower and 40+ inch tires.  In comparison, Cody’s Can-Am Maverick X3 RC has 195 Horsepower and 32-inch tires. Cody’s qualifying time was 9 seconds slower due to a track that has been torn up over the course of the week.

2020 Nitto King of the Hammers Qualifying results

Pos No. Name Best Tm Diff Class
1 67 Loren Healy 02:35.935   4400
2 76 Jason Scherer 02:38.824 2.889 4400
3 966 Jason Blanton 02:39.304 3.369 4400
4 98 Jordan Pellegrino 02:39.989 4.054 4400
5 54 Michael Bou 02:40.302 4.367 4400
6 33 Michael Bergman 02:41.171 5.236 4400
7 82 JP Gomez 02:41.260 5.325 4400
8 9 Bryan Crofts 02:42.081 6.146 4400
9 90 Darian Gomez 02:42.327 6.392 4400
10 210 Greg Adler 02:42.727 6.792 4400
11 888 Cody Addington 02:44.265 8.330 4400
12 41 Josh Blyler 02:44.362 8.427 4400
13 21 Erik MIller 02:44.552 8.617 4400
14 81 Levi Shirley 02:44.803 8.868 4400
15 83 Raul Gomez 02:45.475 9.540 4400
16 25 Vaughn Gittin 02:45.578 9.643 4400
17 4454 Bailey Cole 02:45.609 9.674 4400
18 34 Jeff Mckinlay 02:46.028 10.093 4400
19 5 Shannon Campbell 02:48.864 12.929 4400
20 48 Cameron Steele 02:48.874 12.939 4400
21 3 Wayland Campbell 02:48.919 12.984 4400
22 444 Rick Waterbury 02:49.455 13.520 4400
23 221 Cody Miller 02:50.253 14.318 4400

Friday’s Nitto King of the Hammers course will differ from the UTV course in a few ways.  Lap 1 and lap 2 are exactly the same.  But instead of a finish line in Hammertown at the end of lap 2, they are sent around lap 2 a second time.  Lap 2 consists of more technical rock crawling trails that Johnson Valley is famous for. And in addition to the extra lap, Virtual Check Points (VCPs) have been added so that bypasses of the tougher obstacles will not be allowed. Plus they have to also navigate through additional trails – Hell to Pay, Full of Hate and Claw Hammer.

This will help keep the lap 2 and lap 3 competitors on different lines during lap 3 in some spots, but as we saw in Chocolate Thunder on Sunday, the course can become clogged very easily.

With the additional rock lap, competitors also have more time to finish the race.  Where the UTV race is cutoff at 4PM, the Nitto King of the Hammers 4400 class has until 10PM to finish.

The other big difference about the 4400 race, is vehicles are often used as traction when they are in the way.  One of the most famous examples from 2013 was replayed on Ultra4 Racing’s Instagram a few weeks ago.  This is where it could get a bit scary for Cody Miller as his Can-Am Maverick X3 is much smaller that typical 4400 buggies.

While Cody isn’t the first powersports powered vehicle to enter the 4400 race, he is certainly the first to race with a factory chassis and suspension.

Cody Miller

Cody Miller – Photo by Adam Campbell

However is shakes up on Friday, I am sure that Cody will open some eyes as his little Can-Am Maverick X3 goes up against these much larger and more powerful purpose built vehicles. I will be glued to the live show on Friday to see it unfold!

You can watch along with me at www.Ultra4Racing.com/live

Ross Pilgreen’s King of the Hammers RZR

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