KING OF THE TRIMMERS

Story by: Shaun Ochsner Photos: Courtesy of Vague Industries

If it has wheels and motor, someone will find a way to race it. Even if it’s a lawnmower. The thing is, King of the Trimmers is not your average lawn mower race. Set in the woods of Epsom, New Hampshire. Josh Mazerolle, owner of Vague Industries puts on the King of the Trimmers. He calls it “the Ultimate Lawn Mower Race.”

The King of the Trimmers started as a parody event to Ultra4’s King of the Hammers. Competitors basically race through the woods on souped-up lawnmowers. This race is about off-road endurance. Some competitors use

ABOVE: Josh Mazerolle, owner of Vague Industries runs King of the Trimmers.

phony names and dressing up in wacky clothing is common. No expensive race suits here. Helmets are a must though, but even those have been painted with phrases and colors to match the drivers or rider’s wacky personality. The official version of the event hasn’t been run in the last nine years. There were forty trimmers entered into this year’s event.

Their machines bear factory brand names such as Troy Bilt, Hydro, Craftsman, Kubota and Club Cadet. You really wouldn’t know those brands unless you had acres of lawn to mow or owned a local lawn mower shop. They all have one thing in common with the rest of the racing world. An engine that can be modified to race! It has everything you are looking for. Air Filter, Carburetor, spark plug– the list goes on. The one rule however is that mower cannot exceed nine miles an hour. This prevents a competitor from gaining an advantage by putting expensive turbo parts on their trimmer.

This year’s event came with all of the fun off-road obstacles, depending how you looked at it. It started with a “Le Mans-style” start forcing the competitors to run to their trimmers when the flag dropped. The engines on the trimmers don’t always fire up right away. Many models have a pull start, so you had better be in shape. Getting them running and grabbing the top spot in the race was half the battle. There was plenty of mud to slide around in or get stuck in. Since these modified trimmers had their blades removed, there was no easy way to chop through it. Some riders fell right off into the goop. Others spun their wheels and attempted to power through. Many got stuck. Lawn mowers don’t exactly have the best tires for navigating logs and dirt. They are meant for traction on wet grass. That was all part of the challenge. The course was part moto, part endurocross. Logs, dirt, mud, and rocks. Competitors received a zip tie for completing laps. There were 34 total laps. Once a competitor finished 17 laps forward, they had to turn around and run the course the other direction, all with other trimmers coming at them head-on! Competitors had a two-hour time limit to complete all of their laps. The winner- Sean Meyer made that deadline by just a mere two minutes. It wasn’t a walk in the park for Meyer. His belt fell off the machine almost every lap.

We just want to know how to make King of the Trimmers an official part of Hammers week out Johnson Valley.