Thanks a lot! To your questions, I have started with "pre-production phase" s oeverything is going to be planed. But, at this point I have all the stats that will affect the fight, and how the fight will happen.
Speeders and gear unlocks. As you will be fighting the tournaments there will be price money, or even gear/speeder available for win. So you will have currency, and you will be able to buy/upgrade new gear/speereds/lances.
About planning of the use of your gear. That is the question I need to figure out yet, so not sure yet. But, right now I would say that you will lock one or two gears for whole tournament. As I would like gears to have different "pros and cons" I like the idea that you need to think ahead, but will see.
There will be bonuses/negative/positive effects for sure. From type of your speeder, weight of the lance to gained experience and perhaps even wounds or types of the lances ;)
If you'd have any idea/feedback, I would be super happy to hear that. Thanks again!