Bunch of good info hereI beat a Busa on my GS500E (racing brackets of course). I'll lay my money on a better rider with a slower bike any day.
When you get some practice, it will come (I red lighted and lost in the semi as recently as a month ago - it happens).
You'll find out there is no "predicting" in drag racing. It will run what it runs and that is often slower than what you think it will do. Seat time and learning your bike will gain you a ton of E.T.
When you stage, pay attention to the roll of the bike from the time it turns on the bulb. You will notice that you can just trip the light, and stop - or you can roll another inch or two before anything happens. You can use this inch or two to your advantage (who doesn't like an extra inch or two?). If you are worried about red-lighting - just trip the bulb and stop. That's a shallow stage. When you get the hang of it, you can stage well into the beam if you like (will raise your E.T. a bit but there are other benefits). To the casual observer, there's nothing going on but a whole world of things happen at the tree. We are the lucky ones that get to play the game.
Dragracing is an awful lot of practice, because it's the details that get it right.
The easier it looks, the harder it is to do it "just right"
Practice and HAVE FUN