INDY LIGHTS: Kaiser turns pole into home win in Race 1

Juncos Racing's Kyle Kaiser entered the weekend with a slim chance to win the Indy Lights championship, and with a pole, fastest lap, and a win on Saturday, the Bay Area resident vaulted from fifth to third in the standings.

"Mazda Raceway must reward hometown drivers," Kaiser said. "I've driven this track so much and know it so well. It's a perfect weekend so far."

His joy was tempered by falling out of the title hunt, but it didn't diminish the fact that he stormed to a 7.9169-second win over Carlin Racing's Ed Jones with relative ease on a sunny day in Monterey. And with Zach Veach claiming third for Belardi Racing (-9.0832), the championship standings were thoroughly shuffled ahead of Sunday's season finale.

Team Pelfrey's Sean Rayhall was fourth (-12.8022) and former championship leader Santiago Urrutia was a distant fifth (-17.6840) in his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports entry.

Before the race started, six drivers had a chance at earning the championship as Urrutia held a one-point lead over Jones, 23 points over Andretti Autosport's Dean Stoneman in third, 38 points over Carlin's Felix Serralles in fourth, 39 over Kaiser in fifth, and 41 over Veach in sixth.

Related Stories

At the end of the 50-minute contest, only Jones, the new points leader, and Urrutia, now seven points behind the Briton in second, were left with a chance to earn the $1 million advancement prize from Mazda and IndyCar. The aforementioned Kaiser, Stoneman, Veach, and Serralles were mathematically eliminated from title contention.

Jones, who starts first for tomorrow's race, admitted he's mildly concerned with the idea of having his occasionally erratic championship rival in his rearview mirrors.

"Obviously we're starting from pole so the goal is to stay in the lead and win," he said. "As long as the person behind me isn't Santi, I'll be comfortable."

Veach, on a current hot streak after winning on Sunday in Watkins Glen and leading the three Indy Lights drivers making their IndyCar debut on Thursday at Sonoma Raceway, credited his team for finding the speed that was sorely missing on Friday.

"We were able to get around Santi in Turn 2, and it feels like a win because we started off the first session almost 1.5 seconds off and the Belardi Racing team really busted their butts to get the car where it is now," he said.

After spending the first lap reforming due to an aborted start, Kaiser took the lead into Turn 2, Jones held onto second, and Veach, who made a blinding start last weekend, repeated the feat by taking third from Urrutia. Rayhall compounded the Uruguayan's problems by demoting him to fifth. With the top five set, they ran to the checkered flag in order.

Behind them, Stoneman bade farewell to third in the championship when contact turned his eighth-place starting position into a distant 13-place finish after he earned a drive-through penalty for tipping Zachary Claman De Melo into a spin.

Urrutia's fade to fifth on Saturday must be a cause for concern after blowing a decent championship lead at Watkins Glen and giving away the lead in Round 1 today. Given his team's championship pedigree, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Urrutia respond with a stellar drive on Sunday. Stoneman's hit-or-miss rookie season erred on the miss side and Serralles, who looked like a championship threat through July, continued to struggle and fell the farthest.

Among the drivers to drop out of the championship race, only Veach, with back-to-back podiums, and Kaiser, who earned his second win of the year, have been on a rise as the 2016 Indy Lights championship heads into the final 24 hours of action.