Deardorf Comes From Behind to Win "The Dash" Off Road Race

(January 5, 2005) -- The final round of the 2004 Corky McMillin Companies Superstition Championship Series off road races was run Friday December 31, 2004 at Plaster City West. The 18th Annual Bud Light “Dash 200” sanctioned by Mojave Desert Racing ran on a new four lap 50 mile course running out behind Superstition Mountain.

The race festivities got started on Thursday night with contingency and technical inspection at the Imperial Valley Fairgrounds. 80 entries, crews and spectators were treated to a fabulous time with music by KXO Radio, an autograph session with the “Metal Militia” extreme motorcycle crew and a fabulous display of off road manufacturers; including Race Ready, AlumiCraft, High-n-Low Motorsports, Line-X Bedliners, F&L Racing Fuels, SKG Motorsports and Alford Distributing.

Racing started at 10am on Friday, Corky McMillin was first off the line and led lap 1 before mechanical difficulties sidelined his Class 1 car. Lap two saw the class 10 cars take the point and wage a tremendous battle all the way to the checkered flag. The first three overall finishers were Class 10 cars and they finished less than four minutes apart.

Overall winner Mike Deardorff of Hemet got off to a bad start as he missed his scheduled starting time and had to start 2 minuets late behind the Class 8 trucks. Deardorff immediately started making up time and at the end of lap two was second on the course to eventual third place finisher Darren Hardesty of Ramona. It took “fast lap of the day” (1hr. 06min. 53sec.) for Justin Lofton of Westmoreland to sneak past Hardesty into second place. The next three spots went to Class 16 cars with Paul Keller of El Cajon finishing fourth, Nick Tiedemann of Coronado fifth and Ed Stout of San Clemente sixth. Greg Hansen of Coronado was the first Class 1 car to finish and was seventh overall, the next two spots went again to Class 16 cars, Adam Ashcraft of Vista eighth and Caleb Gaddis of El Centro ninth. David Gardner of San Diego rounded out the top 10 in a Class 10 car.

Other class winners included; Class 5 Ralph Mauzy of Apine; Class 9 Kent Graves of San Diego; Class 13 Yee Eli of Chula Vista; Class 14 Mark McMillin of El Cajon; Class 12 Tom Barrigan of Menifee.

The 2005 Corky McMillin Superstition Championship Series begins March 5th with the Second Annual “Fud Memorial 200” at Plaster City West. For details please contact Mojave Desert Racing at mdrracing.com or 662-442-9320.

COMPLETE RESULTS:
Bud Light Dash 200 Dec. 31, 2004 Plaster City West;
4 – 50 mile laps (unless otherwise noted) Total Entered 84. Total Started 72. Total Finished 36

Class 1: 1st. Greg Hansen 5:17:12; 2nd. Brent Miller 5:51:25; Corky McMillin dnf; Bob Lofton dnf; Josh Waddell dnf; Andy McMillin dns; Scott Young dns; Kim Hamann dns.

Class 5: 1st. Ralph Mauzy 5:42:46; 2nd. Todd Stemmerman 6:29:44; Ken Schertzer dnf
Class 550: 1st. Tony Steingraber 6:40:43; Ron Plunkett dnf; Ismael Sanchez dnf; Kris Schulz dnf

Class 7: Perry McNell dng; Neil Heffernan dnf; Jim Highley dnf; Dave Ahles dnf; Darrell Herman dns

Class 8: Jeff Norton dnf; Warren Thompson dnf; Scott Wilson dnf

Class 9: 1st. Kent Graves 4:50:30; 2nd. Julie Kern 5:15:39; 3rd. Carlos Albanez 5:37:05; 4th. Jack Hettinger 5:57:18; Chris Hancock dnf; Jose Victoria dnf; Deegan/Green dnf; Mark Anderson dnf; Matt Arnold dnf;

Class 10: 1st. Mike Deardorf 4:49:54; 2nd. Justin Lofton 4:52:33; 3rd. Darren Hardesty 4:53:02; 4th. David Gardner 5:36:04; 5th. Jose Lopez 6:26:02; 6th. John White 7:19:44; Brandon Aymar dnf; Doug Aleman dnf;

Class 1200 (2 laps): 1st. Tom Barrigan 3:45:57

Class 1300 (3 laps): 1st. Yee Eli 4:16:26; Don Gibson dnf; Heidi Steele dnf; Miguel Cortez dns

Class 1450 (2 laps): 1st. Mark McMillin 3:13:28; 2nd. Canarella/Gilmer 3:18:26; 3rd. Justin Mamer 3:30:40; 4th. David Santa Crus 4:12:44; 5th. Pat Sutalo 4:18:18; 6th. Reeves/Reeves 4:22:43; 7th. John Coleman 4:25:31; 8th. Brandon Whitehead 4:53:25; 9th. Gregory Tuck 5:08:24; Giti Gowland dnf; James Ederer dnf; Joseph Belt dnf; Heather Garcia dnf; Mark Gonzalez dns

Class 1600: 1st. Paul Keller 5:01:55; 2nd. Nick Tiedemann 5:02:41; 3rd. Stout/Steel 5:06:16; 4th. Adam Ashcraft 5:23:55; 5th. Caleb Gaddis 5:33:43; 6th. Daniel McMillin 5:44:47; 7th. Humberto Rodriguez 5:46:05; 8th. Ian Jameson 6:34:38; 9th. Victor Orellana 6:37:04; 10th. John Manring 6:37:49; Joe Laff dnf; Art Navarro dnf; Garit Wallace dnf; Sherard Colby dnf; Billy Skinner dnf; Greg Boyer dnf; David Hendrickson dnf; Tommy Gaddis dnf; Shea Smith dnf; Miles Wyatt dnf; Paulden Hepler dns; Joe Heger dns.