SIPP SHINES WITH A PODIUM AT HEARTLAND PARK TOPEKA Topeka, KS Blue Springs Harley-Davidson rider Walt Sipp finished 3rd at round four of the ASRA Thunderbike Championship, held at the newly renovated and repaved Heartland Park Topeka circuit. After missing the first two rounds of practice on Thursday and Friday due to a late arrival at the track, Sipp had to rely on his home track knowledge to get up to speed. Qualifying went well even with very little practice time. Walt qualified on the front row (4th) with a 1:51.519. Sipp said, “I pretty happy with how things are going. I haven’t run this configuration before, but its fun. It feels good to be on the front row at my home track!” For the race on Sunday, Walt was confidant he could run the pace at the front. “I’m sure I can run the pace of everybody except Estok that is as long as I can get a start. My starts have been horrible this season” said Sipp. As it turns out, his fears were realized when he got another disastrous start which saw him fall behind the majority of the field. He fought his way back through and slowly started gaining back valuable lost positions. Walt said, “Man, I don’t think I could have gotten away worse! I got hung pretty bad on the first lap once I recovered, by then everyone was gone. I just tried to catch and pass as many people as I could, but on the last few laps I backed my pace down trying to save my stuff. As it turns out some people had some problems and that allowed me to make the podium. I’m really excited about getting on the box at my home race and putting on a good show for all my fans that came out from KC to cheer me on. It kind of takes some of the sting out of Daytona.” If you remember, Sipp had a sure podium locked up at Daytona, but crashed on the last lap from 2nd position. Look for Walt and the Blue Springs crew to be back fighting for another podium at the next round; VIR June 24-25th. Find out more at www.waltsipp.com.