Your bike doesnt matter. Your fitness, traffic handling, route planning, and ability to do things at the checkpoints do.

Know the area. Until you really really really know the area you are racing you will not win.

They way I always worked it was to quickly scan the list for my first stop. Then while on the way plan out the rest of the route. Having a good route is the one thing that is most important that most people do not realize they need.