Welcome to the racing world - Results just seem to be harder than they really are for most promoters.

You will learn after a while to scope out your competition and watch for them when they get away from you and when you catch them again if you do. Somtimes, you just have to make sure you know where your place is yourself. It takes a while to learn your competitors, but you soon learn how to do it. Was this a mountain bike race or a road race?

It's a shame that the race was not run better, but it is REALLY not unusual!