[JessicaJ]

Gage Walker’s Return to Macon Speedway Comes to Early End
By Jessica Jenkins

When Gage Walker got the last minute call to run Larry Gardner’s #38 Midget at Macon, he jumped at the chance. With just a couple of days to prepare, he took off on Saturday for the central Illinois track where he has at least five starts. It was his first time running POWRi this year as that series was on their fourth night of Illinois Speed Week. For the newly-graduated driver it came right on the heels of USAC’s Indiana Midget Week.

It was a hot afternoon at the 1/5th mile dirt track, but that certainly wasn’t going to slow down Walker at all. Due to the pace hot laps were being run through, he only got about a lap and a half of practice in which to get re-acclimated to the Speedway. His 28th fastest speed in practice (out of 33 cars) slotted him into fifth spot in the second heat race. But that would give him a lot of opportunity to earn passing points.

And he certainly made the most of it. On the initial start he instantly jumped into third place by the time they reached the backstretch, but a yellow came out and reset the field. When they went back green, one of the cars ahead of him began to smoke and on the second lap Holly Shelton flipped in front of him. In order to avoid running into her, he got hard on the brakes and came to a stop right before the start/finish line. They restarted with just one lap complete and he was up to fourth by lap 3, maneuvering both the high and low lines to get past his competitors. On lap five of the eight lap heat, he got shoved hard into the wall by a car to his inside on the frontstretch. However, the 18-year-old was somehow able to keep going and darted into third place with one to go, finishing in that position.

Once he returned to the pit area, it became clear there was a lot of damage with the metal bars on each side all dented in. His 4-man crew made repairs and got the car looking good again. His impressive run to the finish, even with the car so damaged, put him straight into an 8th place start in the Feature. However, when they backed the car up to push out to the track, they found a broken steering arm on the left front. Repairs were quickly made, but by the time they made it to the ramp, the Feature had started and was already under yellow on lap 1. With no choice but to go back to the trailer, their night ended early and they began the process of packing up.

It was not the night the Indianapolis-based driver was looking for, but he took the disappointment in stride. All-in-all it was a rough day on track, but he got the chance to be racing on a weekend he hadn’t originally planned on. Gardner was pleased with the young star’s run and shared that he’d earned the opportunity, saying he “drives good corners”. That’s a very important thing when the majority of time is spent in them—especially on a tight short track like Macon.

Coming up this weekend Walker will be racing a little farther from home than normal as USAC heads off to West Memphis, AR’s Riverside Int’l Speedway for a double header on Friday and Saturday, June 17-18. It will be another busy weekend for Walker and his family-owned team’s red #7x. They will be using their second car while repairs are still being made to the primary that was destroyed at Kokomo on the last day of Indiana Midget Week. It will be a good chance for those in AR, TN and MS to see the stars of USAC race, so if you are in the area, head on out and cheer for Walker!

To keep up with Gage Walker, visit his website (GageWalkerRacing.com), follow him on Twitter @GageWalker7 or ‘like’ his Gage Walker Racing fan page on Facebook. Updates during his races and new pictures are always being posted!