Chuck, one year just to,prove a point I flew a 50cc airplane in unlimited and did fairly well. For sportsman your 75cc airplane will do just fine. The fact that you see the need to get the airplane trimmed correctly and then put in the time practicing already gives you some advantage. Usually it's not until guys hit intermediate do they realize that man handling the airplane through the sequences just isn't going to cut it.
Gene, I have not bothered with any of the budget servos. I have tried some of the Savox servos with good results and some of the lower priced JR sport digitals and have been happy.