@
Heathpack As a thought for you at your track session...you are in control. What I mean by that is you know what your racing goals are at the track. IMO, you do not need to be the greatest mass start racer with crazy bike handling skills diving off the banking. All that can come with time and practice but IMO, you need to know how to get on and off the bike, ride in the pole lane and at the relief line and ride in a pace line and do exchanges. That will get you enough skills to attend an open session and train on a pursuit bike plus race LAVRA time trials. From there you can expand your skills, if you decide to. You just need to ride more on the track and feel comfortable with the banking.
It would be great if you find another rider at the session who is better than you that you have confidence in and can practice riding in a pace line and doing exchanges. You might suggest that to the instructor as he may have someone to pair you with. He is basically a p u s s y cat and easily persuaded to do what you want to do. All of us that instruct at tracks want new riders to achieve their goals and we try to keep riders as safe as possible.
For example, i worked out with a newer track racer on the motor who is still learning to ride behind the motor. He is a very strong experienced crit racer and good bike handler. So the supervisor paired us together and I helped him with his motor work. I have done thousands of laps with the motor doing all kinds of drills. I assured him that I had his back so he could just relax and let go. So he was very comfortable working with me and by the end he was much better and we had a great workout.