When you're a newbie it's very difficult to see passing spots for several reasons, the first is that you tend not to pass people so you don't know from experience what kind of space is needed. The second is your bike control skills are a lot less refined, so keeping on line and balanced when being passed is a lot more difficult - that track widening may have looked wide enough to you but to a newbie it might as well have been a tightrope. And finally when you're new to it, you tend to loose all your skills once someone fast is waiting behind to pass - even now my skills get worse the moment someone fast is behind me and that's after over a year of solid racing.
As the skills and confidence improve these people will stop pulling right off, but there's nothing like friendly comments from the elites going past to help build that confidence
! A track with lots of obvious passing areas helps too.
