[JessicaJ]

Best USAC Finish of the Year for Walker comes at Kokomo
By Jessica Jenkins

Coming off a decent three days of racing one week earlier, Gage Walker was ready to pull into Kokomo Speedway October 14th. Running just his second Kokomo Klash, he was looking forward to picking up a far better finish than his result at the Speedway in June. This time he not only avoided trouble, but also nearly finished on the podium.

From the very start of the night, Walker's red #7 was on a rail as he paced third fastest in qualifying. He slipped back only slightly in the heat race to earn a fifth place finish from starting third, something that lined him up inside row seven of the feature. From that point on, though, nothing could hold him back as he stayed glued to the bottom of the track and began advancing through the field. He later described the car as being "hooked up on the bottom." By the final few laps he had moved into the top five and was rapidly drawing nearer to the top three. As the checkered flag flew, he wheeled it across the line and just missed taking third place. It was a spectacular finish to a great night for the driver from Indianapolis.

Walker wrapped up the 2016 USAC Indiana Midget schedule fifth in points, only a few back from fourth while being surrounded by Keith Kunz's drivers. He earned his best finish of the year since winning a local midget race at Montpelier in April. Afterwards he expressed what it was like to race with USAC's best: "It was fun! I felt relaxed and comfortable up there and it was a good experience. It was rewarding after all the setbacks and issues we've had this year."

On that wave of momentum, the 18 year old and his family-owned team took off for Wayne County Speedway in southern Illinois on October 21st. He laid down the twelfth fastest speed in hot laps and transferred a third place start in heat 1 to a second place finish. In a huge field of midgets, Walker wrapped up fifth in the third Qualifier, sending him to the front of the Semi. He charged up from third place and used his runner-up finish to easily place himself into the Feature. Slated to start eighteenth in the night's biggest race, that's when trouble struck. A battery went bad on him before he could even take the green and caused him to miss the start, crediting him with a 28th place finish at the Jason Leffler Memorial.

Racing has its ups and downs and that's exactly what Walker has experienced in the past couple weeks. In light of that, he wants to thank his parents, Mike Hurst and Tyler Nelson for helping wrench on the car as well as Spike Chassis, Impact, Wilwood Brakes and Superior Bearings for making it all possible.

Next up for Walker is the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Ventura Raceway (CA) November 24th. For more about this rising star and to see pictures from recent races, like him on Facebook (Gage Walker), follow him on Twitter @GageWalker7 and visit his website at GageWalkerRacing.com.