Teresa, here's my $.02, certainly worth less, and I'm sure that others will chime in about your experience.
At a high level, if you ever have a concern, especially a safety concern, at a track day (ours or anyone else's), go to see the person in charge. It is good for you, good for the other riders, and good for the org. Please don't be shy about that. I have done that with other orgs and I can tell you that any safety issue will get addressed with N2 that day. As you may hear in many rider meetings, bringing it up after that can't produce a solution that day. We still want to know, but it is harder to fix once everyone is home and re-hydrated.
There's an inherent risk with mixing skills levels and varying vehicles. That is why the attendees are split into three groups. Still, these are not disparate. One could easily argue that it is more like a Venn diagram with the Novice and Advanced circles touching in the middle of the Intermediate group circle. You won't find folks in Novice or Advanced that should be in the other, but you can find some in either that could be in Intermediate, and some in Intermediate that could be in Novice or Advanced. There are MANY reasons for this. A few that come to mind are that a rider of a certain skill set may not have been to a specific track before, a rider could be having a great or off day, or could be (like me Saturday morning) testing a repair. There are a LOT of variables. The groups are t-shirt sizing and not static absolutes. Another important part is that NC Bike specifically allows/encourages riders (and drivers) to try different lines. Still, it is always the responsibility of the person passing to pass safely, within the rules, and to make every effort not to change the line of the person they are passing. This is not always avoidable, particularly if the person being passed turns in early, and a big reason that I prefer late entry (like street riding).
I can be only 1/2 honest about the high HP bikes with rider aids, and this is my opinion alone. As a whole it makes track days more challenging. Riders can really rely on the electronics and high HP for their lap times, regardless of potentially being in the way of more skilled riders on bikes of lesser power. Unfortunately, this is just where the sport is right now, and love it or hate it...it is here to stay. It is a gift (like the rain) or making us better at planning passes and extracting the pluses from our own vehicles and skill sets.
I hope that this wasn't me. "One CR in particular tested me out a lot, on the track, and was a bit cagey." I work very hard at a track day, normally coaching in both groups both days to help the maximum number of riders and keep safety as a priority. I believe that I pull in more than most to talk with them about safety issues (I was almost taken out getting out of the last turn on Sunday and pulled that little swerving booger in...lol).
In defense of a CR talking about things they saw, regardless of what a rider is working on, that is just part of the job. By focusing on areas to improve (whether the rider asked or not) all of the riders are kept safer. I don't think that this will/should change. I had one such discussion this weekend and the rider rode off unhappy after our talk. I felt bad, but safety will not suffer, IMO (not humble about that at all!). If you have a specific topic in mind, try to let the coach know before you go out, or interrupt them when they're talking. I would never mind and suspect that the other CRs wouldn't either. If you experienced a coach actually providing info on how to stuff another rider, I suspect that Rob would want to know and encourage you to send him a note directly or through me.
I hope that it was a good experience overall, and suspect that we can handle some of your concerns at the next one if brought up at the right time. I've ridden with you at a few track days and you looked the best this weekend, so you're doing something(s) right!
