These Girls are on Fire! K&N Teryx Girls Are Back to Conquer King of the Hammers

Shot of Sara Price and Erica Sacks in front of the Kawasaki Teryx side by side

K&N's Sara Price and Erica Sacks killed in out on the King of the Hammers course

It’s early February 2017 and for off-roaders and their fans, all sights are set on the Means Dry Lake Bed at the Johnson Valley Off Highway Recreation Area, located in Lucerne County, California, home to the legendary event known as King of the Hammers.

For almost ten years now, competitors, race teams, and spectators have converged upon this makeshift, pop up town, Hammertown, to bear witness to some of off-roading’s most exciting racing known around the world. With five events to compete in, or simply watch, what started as the brainchild of promoters Dave Cole and Jeff Knoll, King of the Hammers has grown from a word of mouth rock-crawling, high speed open desert competition for 12 teams racing for beer and bragging rights, to a world class event. The race boasts more than 300 race teams and close to 45,000 spectators. This event can be seen on multiple continents around the world from the BBC to NBC Sports channels, plus any number of indie off road channels that can be found on YouTube.

Photo of Co-Driver, Erica Sacks getting the Teryx Girls out of a sticky situation in the canyon.

Responsible for spotting, winching, and getting the team through rough spots, Erica Sacks is a pro

Some of the King of the Hammer events include the now Saturday/Sunday King of the Motos race; Monday nights Vision X Shootout - think of drag racing up a boulder strewn canyon with a prize purse of $10,000; the Can-Am King of the Hammers UTV Race presented by RCV on Wednesday; the SmittyBilt Every Man Challenge come Thursday; with the mac daddy of them all, the Ultra4 Racing King of the Hammers rounding out the week on Friday. Talk about an incredible week of racing!

Having competed last year and outted early because of mechanical failure, the Teryx Girls, K&N team driver Sara Price and K&N team co-driver Erica Sacks are back and looking for redemption in the 2017 Can-Am King of the Hammers UTV race. The Teryx Girls have been thinking of Hammertown for the last 12 months, looking to better their result from last year. Touted as the toughest one day off-road race on the planet the duo wowed the thousands of spectators in Johnson Valley, California, last year as they sped through open desert and found unique lines through some of the technical rock crawling sections of the course.

Photo of Sara Price with her Stadium Super Truck

K&N team driver, Sara Price is the first female Stadium Super Trucks driver

The duo started 20th and came out of the desert section in 12th position heading into the trails, soon picking off enough cars to run in a 5th place spot before mechanical failure ended their race day early. “From the moment we realized we weren’t going to finish last year, we’ve been thinking about how this year we were going to get the job done,” said Price. “We could hear everyone cheering for the Teryx Girls last year and I expect we will see even more fans out in Johnson Valley this week. This race is as tough as they come and I know Teryx is up for the challenge.”

Photo of Kawasaki factory rider, Sara Price digging in on the motocross track

Not afraid to get down and get dirty, Kawasaki factory rider, Sara Price kills it on the track

Sara qualified the only 800cc to compete in the UTV Class on Saturday, February 4th, securing an impressive 20th starting position against 46 challengers from that day, with a total of 70 entrants in the class. The IMG Motorsports-built Kawasaki Teryx side by side, specifically built for the King Of the Hammers, retained a large percentage of stock parts as a result of Kawasaki’s proven strength, performance, and reliability. After qualifying they spent hours on end making adjustments to their side by side before race day. Their efforts paid off, as they had no mechanical issues pop up during the race.

Photo of Teryx Girls after the roll in Backdoor

The rock crawling section can easily topple side by sides. Here the Teryx Girls rolled in Backdoor

The only all-female team competing during KOH week, Sara Price and Erica Sacks aren’t newcomers to the sport of off-roading! Price, a former X Games competitor and Supercross racer, is also the first female Stadium Super Trucks driver. Sacks is a co-driver on rally races and competed in 2015 with Sara in the all-women’s Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc in Morocco.

Sara has made her mark by not only making history in her racing endeavors but also in the Motocross Industry by being the first ever factory supported female racer under Monster Energy Kawasaki and an X Games medalist. Being determined and hardworking she is shooting her sights in a new direction as still continuing her racing in motocross but tackling an all new kind of racing as an off road race car driver. Being a young business lady and role model, she is always striving for the best and always giving back to her community. Sara strives to stay fabulous as being a host at special events and on camera as a spokeswoman. With no fear she recently competed in beauty pageants to prove a point that women can be attractive and be just as good as the men on the track. Sara has recently ventured into stunts, striving to break into the film industry as her new goal aside from racing.

Photo of Teryx Girls in the side by side after they rolled in Backdoor

A quick recovery got the Teryx Girls heading the right direction out of Backdoor

K&N’s Sara Price and Erica Sacks teamed up to be the first ever American SxS team in the toughest all-female sporting event on the planet where they took on the grueling race in the deserts of Morocco, in 2015 at the 25th Anniversary of the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles. The ladies competed in a factory supported Kawasaki Teryx® Side by Side built by IMG Motorsports.

The Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles is a 9-day race located in Morocco, Africa, where approximately 160 teams and 300 competitors come together to tackle the desert without aid of GPS. Using only outdated maps, teams are forced to navigate the terrain with nothing but a compass and a will to succeed. They navigate with the goal of traveling the shortest distance from Point A to Point B, ranging anywhere from 700 miles to 3,000 miles. The navigational challenge was a true test for the Kawasaki IMG Motorsports team.

Photo of Co-Driver, Erica Sacks, spotting as Sara takes on the tough terrain.

Without a capable co-driver races like KOH & Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc would be impossible

Sacks has over 17 years of off-road racing experience. She has been all over Baja and has raced the longest race in the US, The Best in the Desert Vegas to Reno at right around 545 miles! This advantage has provided the knowledge necessary to compete in this extraordinary event. Erica has competed in a host of off-road vehicles from trophy karts to Class 1 cars, and has garnered experience and navigational skills having competed in the most prestige races held in Baja. Prior to the Rallye she earned a podium finish in a UTV at the 2014 Lake Elsinore Grand Prix.

The Can-Am King of the Hammers UTV event was dominated by the Campbell family, and it was the third straight year with a different winner after years of the event being dominated by the six time winner, Mitch Guthrie.

Photo of Sara Price spending some quality time and sharing her passion with MX young riders

K&N's Sara Price sharing her passion with some amazing young riders

With only one set back, having rolled at Backdoor, they were able to maintain a two position move up to finish the race in 18th place overall. This was quite an impressive accomplishment for the Teryx Girls in the 800cc side by side, considering the were up against turbos and 1000cc vehicles.

“We did it! We completed the Can-Am King Of The Hammers UTV Race presented by RCV!” We rolled early on but recovered quickly and didn't have a single mechanical failure on our Kawasaki Teryx! Our top speed isn't close to our competition but we drove hard and made up the time we lost in the desert in the rocks where "Billy Goat" shines! We started 20th and was the 14th car across the finish line with time corrected 18th overall out of 81 cars!” Sara Price proclaimed.

Congratulations to Sara Price and Erica Sacks for their amazing accomplishments. We are super excited to see what the 2017 race season brings for these incredible women in racing.

Photo of Sara and Erica driving across the desert in the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc

Erica navigates across the Moroccan desert with Sara behind the wheel in the Rallye

Shot of Sara Price and Erica Sacks flying the US flag over their side by side in Morocco.

Representing the US in the all-women’s Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc in Morocco

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