I'm surprised that nobody mentioned the initial surge. Its been a long ass time since I've raced a 4/5 crit, but one thing I do recall was that if I could hang for the first ~5 laps, I could usually make it to the sprint. New racers get EXCITED about RACING and when the gun goes off (or whistle) they GO really REALLY FAST until they're TIRED. Then they slow down until someone ATTACKKSSS THEN ITS TIME TO CHASE AGAIN. Thennn CRASH...