JEAN -- It might have seemed fitting that the annual KC HiLITES Midnight Special would start an hour late since the race sponsor was introducing new 70-watt high-intensity discharge light in carbon fiber housing specifically made for challenging off-road racing during night time conditions.

The 31st annual event started Saturday at 8 p.m. following a slight delay related to a huge crowd that attended.

Once the sun went down, Unlimited Truck competitor Cameron Steele and the remainder of his team sliced through the darkness and the dust to collect an impressive victory.

A last-lap pass of T.J. Flores assured the victory and highlighted action generated by a 121-car field here.

In a race presented by the Southern Nevada Off-Road Enthusiasts, Steele drove the first two laps of a five-lap event as the team recorded an overall time of five hours, 11.14 minutes to narrowly beat Flores, who finished in 5:14.55.

The impressive victory came following a rugged battle with Flores, the talented Class 1 driver who was attempting to collect his second straight SNORE victory after taking the win in the Dusty Times 250 in Caliente earlier this year.

A last-lap pass of Flores by Steele's co-driver Rick Geiser highlighted a rugged but clean battle between the two in the rough desert that presented virtually ever possible challenge.

Steele shot to a first-lap time of 56.54 minutes to headline the early competition, but Flores was less than 60 seconds behind.

And when the two came across the line after the fourth of five laps, Flores had an overall time of 4:11.11, while Steele's team was at 4:11.46.

"We had an awesome race," said Steele, a prominent ESPN commentator and accomplished off-road competitor. "Yokohama Tires and us are big believers of SNORE. It was a great event. We have been working on tire tests and it's awesome that we went 250 miles without a flat tire."

When darkness hit the course, the end result was heavy competition, especially coming out of the hills heading west. Only the strong survived in an event held at Jean after being run for countless years in Eldorado Valley south of Boulder City.