Also, sorry, I got so excited to have another "new guy" racer in Lakewood, I forgot to add some useful info in response to some of your questions:

Trackday stuff has already been covered, although, you'll also need to register on MotorSports Reg to get set up as a racer, register for races, and some of the HPR trackdays are handled through that site as well. Definitely keep an eye on Legion Moto as Veronica mentioned to get track time at PPIR and Pueblo. If you miss a trackday, there's almost always a trackday at each race weekend the Friday preceding a race. At HPR, it's easy, just go through Motorsports Reg. For PPIR, I had to do some digging and found the Friday practice registration being hosted through the mytickets website (example link for round 2 Friday pracitce @ PPIR: https://www.seetickets.us/event/MRA-...at-PPIR/420412 )

For shops, my go-to is Imperial Sportbikes. It's a quick blast down 6; maybe 15-20 minutes from Lakewood. They're heavy into racing there and can definitely help you with tire swaps, race prep, suspension setup, engine tuning, they also know MRA at that shop very well. In fact, the owner walked me through race lines @ PPIR the week before round 2 and helped me learn some race prep tips about my bike that I didn't even know.

For the MX stuff, I would love to do that, but I had to choose asphalt or dirt with $$ limits, so I can't do that right now, but my neighbor is really into it, and I work with an awesome guy who does a lot of trail riding, so, networking opportunity for ya.

Cheers, man.