New 'tard- a few questions

I've been lurkin watching and checking stuff out- seems as though this is the information hub for motards.
I've got an 03 CRF450 I'm turning into a 'tard. It's going to be setup for roadracing. Right now the bike is mostly in a box.
Technicals on the bike
2003 CRF450, 04 CRF450 motor.
Rad Mfg Hex Hubs and Excel 17" X3.5 and X5.0 wheels.
Braking caliper and 320mm wave rotor
Braking rear caliper wave rotor
Traxxion Dynamics forks setup.
Penske SuperMoto shock
Full ti exhaust
SDG seat (slightly lower)
Brembo Supermoto M/C

So I've got a few questions.

Where did the word "motard" come from? I've heard it's french. :headscrat
I read a lot about offset and stuff. What is the correct offset? What are the stock triples? Suggestions for triples?

Gearing. If I know what the bike is geared to, stock, I can figure out what ratios I need. But there's no top-end speed info out there.

150 Vs. 160 tire size? Any opinions? Must be 110 up front right?

Anything else I'm missing? First race is coming up Feb 20th so I need to break out the Visa if I'm missing any major components!