Another thing about the track 10000 that's probably more important here than any other distance is rhythm. If the competition is such that you don't have to pay too much attention to other runners and you can get in a groove, that can be a huge benefit. It's not something that you can plan too much before the race, unless you know you're going to be practically alone, or that a certain pace is going to be rabbited for you. But if you can find it and settle into it, 16 laps can go by like nothing.
Of course the best runners can go with shifting rhythms, or cause them themselves to break others, but as a neophyte, that's not easy.
I kind of disagree with the poster who said you can make up a lot of time late in the race. You have to have an awful lot left in the tank to really pick it up. Picking it up significantly in the last few miles is damn tough to do unless you're in a championship race or something where you've been conservative early.
I can't imagine there's any more satisfaction in a track race than running a really good 10000 ... getting to 5M in PR pace and knowing (almost knowing, since anything can happen) you've got a big PR in the bag ... or more pain then running one that really sucks, especially if you're at 4M, slowing down and you can't help yourself.
There were 10000s late in my career where I was so set that I was ready to PR, that when I went (for example) 4:55-5:05-5:08-5:12, and knew I couldn't break 31:00, I was so discouraged that I dropped out. That's not good.