I being one to have taken advantage of the novice class see it as a blessing, like MikeK said, it is a daunting task to jump right into the main stream competition. I am still a noob, but I am looking forward to competing in a regular class this next season. I know I wouldn't be so motivated if I hadn't been able to run Novice this year. It was fun, and a great learning experience.
Maybe I should purchase a set of Hoosier for next year so that I can beat MikeK. He was always at least 2 seconds faster then me. LOL