| Up until 1997 Novices were only allowed to ride up to 600cc bikes, hence the popularity of the class, I purchased my first race bike a 600 towards the end of that year, then they changed the rules over the winter so that in 1998 Novices could ride any bike they choose to providing they held a full road license and rather than getting a Novice License they would qualify as a intermediate Novice. Not sure if this was a good idea, the reason behind the ACU thinking was to allow riders who rode bigger bikes on the road and trackdays to be able to ride the same bikes when starting racing. For some this is OK but for the majority i'm not sure. if anybody ever read in MCN the account of Adam Duckworth's first race you would have read a very honest article from somebody who had considered themselves fast on trackdays, saying he was always amongst the top guys in the fast group. But after racing his far from standard R1 at Donington Park with New Era, he had a different opinion of his own speed.
Must admit I had a few choice words for him through my helmet as I was stuck behind him for a while especially down Craner, still I managed to get my 600 Steelie past him in the end and pull out half a lap on him.
Even at the TT in the Production 1000 class there is only about 1/3 of the field that can really push these modern 1000cc production bikes.  | 
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