G'day Six Three,
While I do plan to race (well ride around a track behind everyone else anyway) the exact year/class is kind of secondary to getting a bike in the price range for starters.
In a perfect world my $3k would get me a 250N and ride EVO just cause that's what I had fun with way back when but old bikes is hard to come by. So I'm just trying not to be too fussy. That can wait for the second and third bikes :-)
T.