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mikewaters As someone that took the plunge after a lot of hemming and hawing, I understand.
Plus I understand the reluctance to shell out $40 for a race where you may not make more than a few laps, even if it's the principle of the thing, not the affordability. If I shell out $40 to race I'm not going to do stupid things that might get me shelled in 2 or 3 laps. $15? I've done stupid things and gotten shelled in 3-4 minutes, and I'm okay with that. If I get shelled in 2 laps of a $40 race, and it's happened, I try to roll it up into the overall weekend experience. So if we just drove 4 hours, I did 4 minutes of racing, and we drove 4 hours back, that's not great. If we do an overnight trip, do something before/after the race, then that $40 gets buried in the weekend's overall expenses and it doesn't seem so ridiculous.
Any way you can find a midweek training race? Sanctioned, preferably, entry might be $15-20. If you put a location in your profile that would help, someone may know the area. For example if you were in CT/MA/RI then a bunch of us would be telling you to make it to one of the three? midweek races in those three states. Entry is in that $15-20 range, and at least the one near me actually has neutralized start laps, some more experienced riders giving some advice, etc.