dear mud;
u can save yourself many hours and many more $$, if u will spend ~20 now, and buy eric gorrs book. i have ridden for 24 years now, and it has much in it even i did not know. tons of pics, etc. see excerpts from it at www.ericgorr.com.
anyway, it will diagnose your issues here, but until then: i think that bike has only one piston ring, in which case this requires more freq replacement than 2 ringers...so, if u are slow, which u probly are (nothing in the world wrong with that), AND you use top grade oil, AND you keep your air filter clean and oiled with a quality air filter oil, AND you allow your bike to warm completely up before riding it, THEN you can probly go 20~25 hrs of Novice style riding...."probably" being the key word. FYI: a 2-stroke is ready to take a slow lap once you have idled it long enough that you cannot leave you bare hand on its head no more than 2 secs.