budoka
Member
Let me add a different perspective on this. I'm a non-racer (by choice after a painful off) although trained and licensed by Justin and worked with Brad almost exclusively few years ago. My personal goal was to race in novice with no thought of advancement or being a contender. I just wanted to be better. After the race school I was better, and as time went on, my lines got cleaner and I did get faster. But lap times aren't the true measure of a skill level, as I found out the hard way. While my speed increased, my "experience" wasn't where it needed to be. As a former commercial pilot I can honestly say that a license isn't all it takes to be totally safe or in complete control. It's a license to learn and it's imperative to let novice racers "learn". I jumped into Intermediate and had a great season with Hx until September '17 and I made a stupid (rookie) mistake and I paid dearly for it. My point is this: let novices be novices and cut their teeth in novice. Advancing is fine for the gifted few, but for the rank and file, it's often a mistake, and in our game mistakes can be so very costly. I was lucky and came through fairly well in spite of my screw up, but it probably stopped my dream of actually racing (I'm a tad older than most) before I had a chance to actually compete at a novice level. So I just ride track days now and work on being a better, safer (if not the fastest) rider in the process. Please, let the novices use their "license to learn" and grow as they should.
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