My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: California

Received a VC 22350. I was traveling on a motorcycle southbound on the 5 and exited to the Ortega Highway offramp. I went through the light as it was green. The next 2 miles I also made all the green lights, there was another bike that passed me going fast. I came around a bend and all the cars ahead were braking, I took my hand off my throttle and that creates a bit of noise from the exhaust. I figured it was a laser officer, I finally could see him through some vehicle windows, and slowly drove on, he pulled me over and asked how fast I was going, and I say honestly I don't know, I was coming from the dentist after a deep cleaning and was riding carefully but not paying attention to speed so much. He then said I was going 74, and he heard me slowing down, which I did not dispute but I do recall looking at my speedo when I saw the cars braking and my needle was pointing almost straight up which would put me at 50-55mph, still speeding but not the speed I was ticketed for. I think the fact he heard me made him think that the 74 was me, not the race bike that past me. Anyhow I did not argue as I did want to get a ticket for loud pipes as well. He told me that I was eligible for Traffic school and if the judge did not agree to book a trial and he would verify this. Anyhow I took the ticket that he wrote in the pretrial date of Dec 28, 2012. This past week I received a letter in the mail that says I need to make an appointment to see a judge in the OC courts, and this ticket was a "mandatory appearance", no mention of any fine etc. I logged in to the OC courts website and found my citation, and no fine was mentioned there. i know the amount will be steep, but... I am asking for any advice as to deal with this. I do know I was not driving 40, but I felt that his decision to ticket me as the vehicle that set of his gun etc was brought about by him hearing my bike not seeing it, he said "I heard you", there was never a straight shot to me through cars etc. Anyhow I have done TBD before and would like to again but I do want to ask for Traffic School to keep my rates from going up. Help? Also the date being during Christmas might be why they want me to schedule an appointment or is that they are busy and just don't want me showing up at 8am on the 28th(my scheduled date from the citation), and also is the mandatory appearance due to the 34 over? Advice?