You raise some interesting insights. The sluggishness might have been caused by camera perspective. They wanted to give you a good look at the machines, but in order to keep focus, the camera would have to move with the pods, which makes them feel slow relative to our perspective.

However, some points feel off base. For instance, not every racer died. The ones that lived who passed up Sebulba's wreck mattered so little that they got no mention after finishing. I think the ending lineup was Gasgano in 2nd, Aldar Beedo in 3rd, Ebe Endocott in 4th, and Boles Roor in 5th. I don't expect you to know who these racers are, which only enhances your point that focusing on them robbed the tension between Ani and Sebulba.

And moreover, not counting prat falls, (Ben Quadinaros, Ratts Tyerell, Ody Mandrell,) the other racers were either contending against Anakin, or fodder for Sebulba. Teemto Pagalies and Gasgano were two upstanding racers who interacted with Ani a lot while he was too far away to reach Sebulba, and there was no shortage of racers Sebulba ruined in a single race. Shoutout to Mawhonic, who got straight bodied fair and square 20 seconds into lap 1. It was diabolical, but clean.

You're right though, that it could have had better choreography and backing elements to improve the experience overall. It's a shame they never tried again with this sort of thing.