It takes a lot of practice, certainly more than 3 days. If you wait for the gate to drop, you've already lost. Our track does gate practice one night a week, where you can go out and do nothing but gates. You need to decide which foot goes first. I'm not very good off the gate, so I sometimes try my weaker leg first, so I don't waste a strong pedal stroke. The key is to go on the 2nd to last tone, but without flipping over the gate. It will make sense once you try it. And yes, I have seen guys spin or smoke their tire off the gate.