With bursts of ear-piercing braking sounds, the riders all passed the final long straight of the Qiao Yi section. On this long straight, Lin Yan achieved the fastest speed of the entire event, 339 kph.
"It's a shame it only scraped the bushes by the roadside. If it had scraped the ground, I reckon my physics would need a complete overhaul."
Although the maneuver looked extreme, Lin Yan was completely confident. He had meticulously observed the surrounding road conditions, controlling his speed and distance.
The rider behind Lin Yan widened his eyes at the sight, thinking, "You can even play like that?"
Of course, he dared not try it himself. While it looked simple, executing it was far from easy. Seeing Lin Yan pulling further ahead, he began to gradually push his limits. However, even with all his might, Lin Yan's figure continued to recede into the distance.
After exiting the corner, before the next bend, Lin Yan flipped his bike and repeated his previous trick.
However, he could only do this twice, because the road sections that followed were lined with stone walls. Scraping his helmet against a stone wall would truly be courting death.
Yet, these two instances alone were enough to make up the 0.3 seconds he had lost to Michael earlier, bringing their lap times to an almost even state.
Soon, the riders all crossed the mountain peak. Simultaneously, on Hao Dong's computer screen, the segment speed times for all riders were displayed.
As a commentator, he had backend access to display each rider's speed for every section.
The big screen in front of the audience, however, did not. It only displayed the lap times after each lap was completed, or if a rider achieved a particularly astonishing result during the race, much like Lin Yan had just done.
Lin Yan was much faster this time than in the selection race, reaching the mountain peak in just one minute and thirty-four seconds, three seconds faster than last time.
This short three-second difference was immense. The rider behind him, who had also qualified with him, was now eleven seconds behind in lap time.
This was quite normal. The rider had been eight seconds behind Lin Yan after just one lap in the selection race, and at that time, Lin Yan had not even been using his full strength.
Now, the gap between them was a full twenty-one seconds, and Lin Yan was only five seconds behind the rider in front of him. Lin Yan was close to catching up.
However, the downhill section was the true test for this group of riders.
The violent shaking of the bike, even through his gloves, made Lin Yan's tiger's mouth ache, but he had to exert extreme control over the racing machine.
It was the same jump ramp as in the selection race. The Ducati V4 SP flew up more than a meter high, and upon landing, the rear suspension bounced.
"My goodness, he barely slowed down before this jump ramp, just charging straight through."
Hao Dong, in the live broadcast, clearly saw this and was astonished. Lin Yan had brought him so much shock in this race.
Compared to other riders, Lin Yan had almost no braking before this jump ramp, charging through at 315 kph.
"Beautiful save!"
Hao Dong praised in the live broadcast. Such control over the bike was indeed worthy of a top racer.
However, he didn't know that Lin Yan's bike control skills were among the best in MotoGP.
After all, one of his masters in his previous life was known as the man who controlled bikes best, performing legendary saves on the track multiple times.
Lin Yan's bike control skills had naturally inherited perfectly from that master.
This maneuver alone had shaved another second off Lin Yan's lap time.
The rider in front of him seemed to sense something. At the next corner, he glanced back with the corner of his eye.
He was immediately startled.
"Damn, how is he so fast!"
This rider clearly hadn't expected Lin Yan to catch up so quickly. Although his starting position was further back, indicating his relatively average level among the official racers, even so, he was still a professional racer.
Then, at the next corner exit, he unleashed full throttle. The Aprilia beneath him roared furiously, as if trying to widen the gap with Lin Yan.
To be caught up by a selection race rider would be a huge embarrassment.
But Lin Yan clearly didn't give him that chance, sticking tightly to the rear of the Aprilia, maintaining a four-second gap.
And as time went on, this gap continued to shrink.
Through the next few corners, Lin Yan pushed the lean angle of his front wheel to the absolute limit.
Although this caused significant tire wear, it was Lin Yan's strategy from the start.
The rider in front watched helplessly as he used all his might but couldn't gain any distance, and instead, the gap was closing considerably.
On a long straight after exiting a corner, Lin Yan pushed the bike's speed to 338 kph, a speed infinitely close to the Isle of Man's fastest recorded speed.
However, at the end of this long straight, Lin Yan performed a braking maneuver that left everyone puzzled.
As he approached the corner, he extended one leg.