just finished my first season 4 Descent race

Just finished the S004C004 Descent race (8/31/13) and I have a few questions.

1. At the end I got stuck and wasn't communicating to the US server. I didn't time out and/or die. just couldn't do anything but finally had to manually exit. Is this a bug or what?

2. I'm playing a duelist as other posts have recommended. That worked ok (I didn't die) but the going is slow. What's the best way to go faster other than getting lucky and get speed boots?

3. Since I ended up at map 5 and the messages would come up that so and so was on level 16, 18, etc., and near the end a message saying so and so was the first to reach level 23, am I supposed to just run past everything and go for the next level? I'm not sure what the race strategy is? Is it a requirement to be a "no-lifer" to get anywhere in the races? (Don't answer that last one, just my frustration for all of the twitch no life players.)

4. How many levels does the season 4 Descent races have?

I got 1 point for playing this race. Is that all there is? Hey GGG, throw us real life non "no lifers" players a bone once in a while if you seriously expect to retain the majority of players long term.

i can assure you dont have to quit your job or drop out of school to be good* at racing.

It's easy to get three or 4 points once you're more familiar with descent. It's easy to get more familiar with descent if you pay it a few times.