The simple answer is - Yes. Unlike most motorsports, being competitive in supermotard racing is more about riding talent than 'who has the most money wins'. Obviously, a knackered old heap, even with a great racer sat on it, will struggle but if your bike's well maintained and has a healthy engine then where you finish in a race will have just as much to do with your talent as anything else.

There is one thing you should remember before you even consider racing, though - racing is a lot more stressful than road riding for your engine which means you'll need to pamper your bike far more than you do your 'significant other'. And that means, even though you've just bought a perfect bike you're still going to have to spend money on it to keep it that way. Even though supermotard racing's probably the cheapest racing around, that doesn't mean it's cheap. And one more thing - racing's dangerous. You may walk away from a huge crash yet spend half a year recovering from a simple drop, it's all down to luck, but losing your job because of a racing crash, no matter how small, will hurt far more than the accident itself. Obviously, if you also ride on the road then you're probably more at risk of a serious injury than you are on the track, but it's still worth remembering, just in case. In fact, if you signed an employment contract for your job, you may find hidden in the small print that your employer can sack you if you go racing in the first place.