Mazda Road to Indy race recap

O'Ward battles Herta

The Mazda Road to Indy development ladder sanctioned by INDYCAR has doubleheader weekends scheduled for all three levels at Portland. The first race in each series took place Saturday.

• Patricio O'Ward capped a dominating Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires season Saturday by winning for the ninth time in 16 races. He held off Andretti Autosport teammate Colton Herta to secure the series title. The season concludes Sunday with a race at 12:55 p.m. ET.
• Oliver Askew (Cape Motorsports) won the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires race by 1.3482 seconds over series champion Rinus VeeKay (Juncos Racing). Sunday's race is at 5:15 p.m. ET.
• Kyle Kirkwood, who wrapped up the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship a month ago for Cape Motorsports, won the 25-lap race. Rasmus Lindh actually led the first lap, but Kirkwood passed him on Lap 2 and led the rest of the way for his 11th victory of the season. A win in Sunday's 6:20 p.m. ET race would tie Kirkwood with JR Hildebrand (2006) for the series record for most wins in a season.