[JessicaJ]

Interesting First Half of Midget Week for Gage Walker
By Jessica Jenkins

On the heels of the 100th Indianapolis 500 is the biggest week of racing for USAC National Midgets as we have moved into Indiana Midget Week. The biggest names in USAC and a talented crop of young drivers have all shown up for huge fields each day. The first three nights at Montpelier, Gas City and Putnamville have been up and down for Gage Walker, one of those young drivers.

Tuesday night at Montpelier Motor Speedway, the 18-year old Walker was 19th fastest in hot laps and qualified 13th. He started from inside row two in the first heat race and missed transferring straight to the Feature by two spots when he finished sixth. He started third in the Semi and turned that fifth place finish into starting 13th when the Feature started. It didn’t take long for the night to take a bad turn though when got caught in a wreck on lap 1 and tagged the tail of the field. Even with a bent drag link that towed the car in and made it tricky to steer, he began working up through his competitors at the place he generally considers to be his home/local track. With 5 to go the red #7x got looped around again and he fired off from the back when they went green again. He made his way back up to 17th by the checkered flag.

Before heading off for Gas City I-69 Speedway on Wednesday, Walker and his family-owned team worked hard to make repairs from night one. It paid off too, as he was 13th fastest in hot laps. Out of the 44 cars that were present, the new high school graduate put himself 21st in qualifying and once more ran in the first heat. Topping his performance in Tuesday’s heat, Walker started from the pole and held onto the final transfer spot, sending him straight to the Feature. As the night moved on, he started off from 18th and immediately began moving up. By lap eight he was in 13th and described his car as being “really good”. But at about the halfway point his momentum hit another snag as the right rear started to go flat, dropping him back in the pack. He managed to hang on for a 17th place finish for the second night in a row, topping his 2015 Midget Week finish in Gas City by one position.

With the night-by-night racing making for a packed schedule, the Indianapolis-based rising star pulled into Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, IN. He humbly stated that the car “wasn’t bad”, but it was the best of the three nights so far and finally nothing happened to slow him down. Walker hot-lapped at 8th fastest then qualified in 15th against his forty-two other competitors. That changed things up when he rolled out for heat #3 (after two nights of running heat 1). This time he jumped from his third place starting spot and finished second, ensuring he would race in the Feature. When they went green for the 30 lap A Main, he pulled off from 13th and battled hard with the others in the deep field of talent to take home a 13th place finish.

Now halfway through USAC Indiana Midget Week, Walker is 16th in points with 108. The remaining three nights are at Bloomington Speedway on Friday, Lawrenceburg Speedway in Southern IN on Saturday and wraps up Sunday at Kokomo Speedway.

For more information about Walker, check out GageWalkerRacing.com, follow him on Twitter @GageWalker7 or like his Facebook Fan Page at facebook.com/GageWalkerRacing. Updates each night are being posted on Facebook, so head over there for up-to-date information as he races!