Sebastian Landy wins penultimate round at Road Atlanta while Kenton Koch claims the Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich® Tires title.

Sebastian Landy won the battle, but Kenton Koch won the war.

Landy, of Great Falls, Va., captured the top spot in Round 11 of the SCCA Pro Racing Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich® Tires at Road Atlanta on Thursday, notching his first series win. Dean Copeland, of Bowie, Md., and John Dean, of Sebring, Fla., completed the top three positions.

Koch, of Glendora, Calif., was just off the podium in fourth – only his second time not on the box this season – but it was all he needed to seal the championship for himself after a season that has included six victories. Landy’s win, coupled with a consistent season that has included six podium finishes, sets up a showdown for second in the championship between him and John Dean in today’s race. Dean leads Landy by 34 points.

Landy did not lead the most laps of the race in his No. 49 Excitations.com/Atlanta Motorsports Group MX-5, but he led the most important one – the last lap. The race, which averaged 81.243mph around the 12-turn, 2.54-mile circuit, was a wild one at the front.

By lap two, the lead cars that included polesitter Koch, Copeland and Nathanial Sparks had successfully broken away from the remainder of the pack. Behind them was a fierce battle for each position. The eventual race winner, Landy, was even involved in some close racing through Turn 12 that resulted in him being pushed off the track by his teammate, Lucas Catania, at the turn’s exit.

Following his off-track excursion, Landy dropped back to the 12th position. He spent the next 18 laps working his way back up to the leaders. What helped Landy the most was his restart following the three-lap, full-course caution issued for the car of Tim Reger making contact with the retaining wall outside of Turn 5. Reger was taken to the onsite medical center and released.

On the Lap 21 restart, Landy took the green flag in fifth, but started lap 22 just off the rear bumper of then-leader Copeland. As the field came down the hill to Turn 12 to start lap 23, it was Landy that was in the lead, where he stayed until the checkered flag waved.

In the Skip Barber MAZDASPEED Pro Challenge, Drake Kemper, of Toluca Lake, Calif., continued his streak with win number three. Starting from third on the grid, Kemper drove his No. 99 Royal Rugby SBMX-5 into an immediate fight for second with Ben Albano.

By the close of lap one Kemper was successful, as he crossed the line in second. For the remaining 23 laps, Kemper played a high-speed game of tic-tac-toe as he, Albano, Robby Foley and even Bryan Hixon, fought for every square inch of track position. On the lap 21 restart Kemper took the lead and never looked back.

Albano, of Greenwich, Connecticut, was able to finish the race second in his No. 61 Project Yellow Light SBMX-5 just ahead of Foley, of Randolph, N.J.. After the finish, Foley is just three points from being mathematically eliminated from the Championship. Kemper sits in the catbird seat for the MAZDASPEED Pro Challenge championship with 641 points. Albano trails by 49 markers while Foley has 584 points.

Round 12, the final race of 2014, is slated to start Friday at 8 a.m. Eastern.