no you shouldn’t/can’t (you will be marked as C grade and i’ll probably heckle you). open is for non-CX bikes, c grade is for exactly the people you describe.
yes, you can (and rumour has it that offer wont be around for ever)
NCXS is a double day at FOJ on the 6th/7th August and the previous Melbourne GP of CX (first weekend in Sept) has been moved to that weekend. First sunday (4th) is now a club round of FOJ I believe and they are looking for another club to run a race on the Saturday.
MCL has their Caribbean Gardens round of VicCXS this sunday.
I’ll probably be giving those a miss. Shame the Champs have been moved to that weekend. I was looking forward to checking out Gumbaya Park this year, after missing it last year.
Can’t make the NCXS/ which I’m super sad about but I can at least race at Sam Miranda (and maybe get in some sneaky singletrack in Yack forest the friday before).