When playing in Rider Career, before starting a race go to Riding Aids and turn off the Rewind.
You can still leave all the other help options like auto-brake On and play on the Very Easy difficulty.
The best tip here is to drive carefully not to fall off your bike, since your opponents on that difficulty will tend to hang very tightly in the corners, and that's when you should take advantage.
You can always restart the race on Rider Career mode.