mine was the same year as the one les has,a mate had the newer model,proper suspension,ramair etc and it was lovely to ride compared to mine.the trick to riding them fast is to have no mechanical sympathy for the bike 
what i mean is you have to slip the clutch like mad to get going,then just hammer it,and brake really late and just whack it down the gears and throw it in 
that worked for me.it also helped,as a few of you know i'm the perfect size to race the 125's or horses as the technical term for my height would be shortarse _________________
ive seen more tarts than mr kipling