Leaving the obvious question, if the local fast guy should be thrown out, doesn’t that make the local second-fastest guy eligible to be thrown out, and then the third-fastest, and then the fourth-fastest, and, eventually, who will be left? At any rate, here’s a missive forwarded to Roadracingworld.com us by Dr. Bob Brownell of Arroyo Seco: The following letter is from Roger Heemsbergen #1 in 3 ASMA Classes during 2001 Racing at Arroyo Seco. Roger was the 2001 ASMA Season Champion, 2001 ASMA Formula Extreme Champion and 2001 ASMA Open Superbike Champion. “Dr. Bob, Please forward this to all ASMA riders. This is kind of long so please bear with me. “First of all I would like to let everybody know I recieved my new Shoei helmet today and it’s absolutely the nicest helmet I’ve ever owned. It’s for my fiancee, Michelle, because she needed a good helmet and I already have a nice one. (Thanks, Jimmy…Jimmy Moore gave Roger a helmet last year). “Second, I want everybody to know I will not be contesting the 750 Superbike race at Arroyo Seco next month, or for the rest of the year for that matter. There is another Shoei top-of-the-line helmet up for the winner of this race and believe me it’s worth more than anything CCS has given out for the winner of Unlimited GP! “As we all know we’re struggling with a low turnout this year and I hope it will turn around in June so if you’re thinking about coming out, a chance of winning a top-of-the-line-helmet is a real treat. “Another thing I wanted to let everybody know is that I will not be riding anymore Twins races this year. Trent and Brenda McCalmon were nice enough to let me ride their Suzuki SV650 at the first two events and I had alot of fun on that bike, but I’m not interested in trying to win 7 class championships. In fact I wasn’t planning on running any Twins classes after the first weekend but my good friend, Doug Schmitz drove out all the way from Oklahoma City, OK to race his SV and I just had to run one class with him. He was my very first teammate in 1994 with Town and Country Honda in Chandler, AZ. “Also I would like to thank Ron Costa for letting me ride his Zia Homes CBR600F4i during the first two events. Last year there was some talk that I was only winning because I was riding the R1, so I felt I had a point to prove by riding a 600. Ron let me race his 2002 F4i, which still had a headlight, turn signals and perfect bodywork! What can you say about somebody who would let me race that bike! After winning my second Shoei helmet, this time on Ron’s bike, I gave him the helmet because I only won it because of his bike. I enjoyed riding the smaller bike so much I have recently purchased an R6 to contest the 600 class and am planning on retiring the R1 (the R1 will be for sale soon if anybody’s interested) “HISTORY LESSON: That leaves 4 classes that I will be contesting, the fastest 4 classes and I might drop it down to 3 later in the year. I made this decision at the last race weekend and since then I’ve heard from a few people that I’m cherry picking. I’ve been told that more than one person has said that I shouldn’t even be allowed to race in OUR club! I don’t recall EVER being anything but nice and helpful out at the track. I spend WAY more time helping/teaching everyone than working on my bikes or practicing/testing. I know my skill level is higher than most but it comes from years of experience. I’m trying to pass that experience on to everyone, It’s how I’ve always been. When I was winning regularly in CCS I was trying to bring the competition up to the same level, showing my competition lines and helping them because it’s more fun when you have guys who might beat you. I am trying to do the same thing here so If you need help or have questions all you have to do is ask. To those who think I should stop racing here and go do AMA or F-USA, I’ve tried that but racing a motorcycle with a bone-stock motor and only enough money for one set of tires per weekend will put you on your head or outside the top 20 real fast. My very first national was the AMA National at Firebird in ’95 where I qualified 13th in 600 Supersport. Unfortunately I only had enough money for one set of tires and had to race on the same ones I practiced and qualified on. Guess what, speed overwhelmed traction and I crashed out. I repeated this underfunded exercise a total of three times before I got hurt bad enough to quit racing altogether. Without the resources even top guys couldn’t do the times the AMA boys do, and I’m nowhere near the caliber of guys like Aaron Yates. When Dr. Bob brought racing here to Arroyo Seco I decided to give local racing one more try and have been having fun. I’m now 33 years old, 34 in three months, and while I still like to win races, I also like watching other people win races. Looking at the class point standings made my stomach turn. I don’t want all those championships. I don’t want all those wins. I don’t want to win every helmet. I want everyone else that comes out to get a chance to win. What I do want is to keep my #1 plate unless somebody starts beating me on a regular basis. If that happens I will gladly take a higher number. I feel that the fastest guy should have the lowest number and unfortunately that’s not always the case when a total points system is in place. i.e. CCS races most of the top 10 numbers people are riding 8 or more classes every weekend. In 1995 and 1996 I had the highest win percentage in the southwest region of CCS and ended up with the #6 plate both times. One of those years the guy who got #3 was someone who I lapped two times in every race but since he ran 13 races a weekend he got more points. I guess I was just making sure that didn’t happen again. Sorry. “BOTTOM LINE: It was expected that going to a total points system would encourage more people to run more classes but I think my running more classes has actually discouraged some people from racing. I don’t want this to be the case, if it is please come out knowing I will only be running a few classes. Dr. Bob will only be running one more race weekend and then it’s up to US, the riders to run the remaining events. I have contacted a quite a few people and chances are we will have some good support at the last three events for making them sucessful. If anyone has any questions email me at [email protected]. “Sorry this was so long winded but I felt I needed to explain these things and get them off my chest. I would also like to thank my sponsors and hope they understand why I won’t be contesting those other classes for the rest of the year, Zia Homes, Western Body and Paint, Dunlop/SportTire Services, Lockhart Phillips, AGVSport,Rock Oil and the Hidalgo County Hearald for giving all our ASMA races newspaper coverage.” Dr. Bob’s Comments: If you missed the point??? To give everyone else a shot at winning an $ 800 Shoei Helmet, Roger will not be Racing in 750 Superbike on June 9th. Roger is giving you the opportunity, so all you Fast Racers out there, put up or shut up! You want an $800 Shoei Helmet? You can Win one here on June 9th. Just Win the 750 Superbike Race. No more excuses. Jump on it. I have been around Motorcycle Racing since 1963. In almost 40 years of Living at Motorcycle Races, I have seen numerous (20 or 30) Very Fast Racers with Tremendous Talent. Roger is 1 of those Very Talented Racers!!!! Period. If I had the money to start an AMA National road race Team. Roger Heemsbergen would be my # 1 Rider. Roger has the talent and experience to race anywhere, anytime. With the proper support, Roger could race and win against almost anyone. My #2 Rider would be Sammy Richards. My #3 Rider would be Mike Shreve. Racing is racing and New Mexico should be very proud of these under-financed racers. These 3 racers are very fast pioneers of road racing in New Mexico. You will probably be very happy that I have to run, so that it is it for now. Take Care and keep the Rubber Side Down! Sincerely, Dr. Bob