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Title contender Sage Karam is definitely moving closer to the 2013 Indy Lights championship after dominating the event in the streets of Houston, his third win of the current season.

Not only did he capitalized on the title by leading the race from start-to-finish but he also distanced himself from his principals rivals who each had catastrophic afternoons. 

One of them was Carlos Munoz, who came into the weekend just two points behind Karam, but saw his car stop with a mechanical problem midway through the race.

Same thing for Peter Dempsey, who also encountered mechanical issues with three laps remaining.

The need to remove his stricken Team Moore car from the circuit meant that the race finished under yellows, saving Karam the stress of a late restart.

Karam's Schmidt team-mate Gabby Chaves finished second while returnee Conor Daly completed the podium.  

Race 1 results - Indy Lights (Texas, Houston)
Pos  Driver               Team            Time/Gap
1.  Sage Karam           Schmidt      51m35.7969s
2.  Gabby Chaves         Schmidt         +0.3805s
3.  Conor Daly           Moore           +0.6016s
4.  Jorge Goncalvez      Belardi         +1.0579s
5.  Axcil Jefferies      Herta           +2.3354s
6.  Jack Hawksworth      Schmidt         +3.5136s
7.  Giancarlo Serenelli  Belardi         +5.6651s
8.  Juan Pablo Garcia    Belardi          +2 laps

Retirements:
Peter Dempsey        Moore            37 laps
Zach Veach           Andretti         33 laps
Matthew di Leo       MDL/Dragffy      33 laps
Carlos Munoz         Andretti         24 laps