Spidertrax | Thom Kingston | CC BY 3.0

Enter the hot pit, where your best friends wait with fuel and tools in hand. Loren had zero mechanical issue, and a large enough fuel tank to likely pull off the entire 2 hr race, but being a new car with just about zero seat time, he and his team elected to re-fuel around lap count 11 (there would be 20 laps total). Take a look at the gent holding up the massive fuel container with the full headphones on, see him starring in the distance at a passing by vehicle (you should just catch the top lights of it, to the middle left side of the photo)? That would be Levi Shirley, who at this very moment would officially be in 1st place.

Fun fact: Levi had no plan to pit, with enough fuel on hand he would continue the race from this point forward at his wicked fast non-stop pace. Glen Helen is not the easiest place to pass, I’d say it’s likely the hardest place to pass in the Ultra4 circuit, and Loren and his team knew this too. As soon as Loren was re-fueled (shortly after this photo, it was a Nascar fast pit stop), he entered back into the field and turned up the dial from 70 to 100%. Yes, Loren had been running around 70% the entire time, and now we would see just what miracle this new machine could pull off.

In that same lap, Loren would end up catching up to Levi (and JT Stevens) just past a zig zag section shortly before the start/finish line. He would pass both in one shot, gain a bit of distance, the turn the dial back to 70%. It was a very quick moment, and the only one that I witnessed, where Loren pushed his new machine to the limit. It was something to see in person, that’s all I can say.