"This girl is probably discouraged and lost confidence."
Vineres glanced at Jiang Qiyan and immediately understood what was happening.
"There's no way, it's too difficult for China's motorcycle culture to compare with you Westerners!"
Zhang Mingzhi sighed. There were very few Asian riders in the WSBK circuit, and even fewer Chinese riders. In the entire WSBK 300, there wasn't a single one; they were almost all Westerners. This was the gap.
Looking at the lap times, the first-place rider, Reisker, was the same age as Yan Xiaoqiang but completely dominated him.
Ten minutes later, Jiang Qiyan emerged from the lounge looking refreshed. Lin Yan gave Su Mojin a curious look.
"How did you manage to cheer her up?"
"I analyzed the pros and cons for her, and once it was explained clearly, she figured it out herself," Su Mojin said softly, sitting next to Lin Yan.
Lin Yan gave her a thumbs-up and said, "Impressive!"
Su Mojin rolled her eyes.
An hour later, the main race began. The grid girls left, and the mechanics withdrew all equipment from the starting grid.
As the five red lights illuminated, the crowd in the stadium fell silent.
Despite Jiang Qiyan's last-place qualifying result, there were no complaints from the audience. Instead, there were many encouraging shouts, which once again shocked Hao Dong and Su Chen. Hao Dong, in particular, grumbled inwardly.
Damn it, even the spectators have learned to be hypocritical these days.
Hao Dong clearly remembered how much Lin Shen was criticized when he first appeared at the Isle of Man due to his arm issues. Back then, Lin Shen wasn't starting from the back; he was leading. It was only later that his stamina failed, and he was accused of being an actor. Thinking about it made Hao Dong angry. Those spectators who had criticized him back then were truly despicable scoundrels.
The main race started. Reisker was on pole position, and Jiang Qiyan was at the very back. Jiang Qiyan's left hand was tightly gripping the clutch lever, her body hunched over the fuel tank, her head slightly raised, her gaze fixed on the five red lights ahead.
The red flags waved, the green flags were withdrawn, and the safety car returned behind the riders.
After a series of preparations, the five red lights suddenly extinguished.
"As the five red lights go out, the Blue Star 22nd WSBK World Superbike Championship, the S country station, officially kicks off. Leading the pack is the renowned Os rider, Reisker..."
On the Chinese broadcast, the opening remarks were delivered formally by Su Chen.
Reisker's launch control was indeed impressive, a true testament to his brother Reisner's teachings. However, Jiang Qiyan's start was no less remarkable.
"We see that Jiang Qiyan immediately moved to the far right of the pack after the start, seemingly not wanting to compete for straight-line acceleration but rather seeking the best entry position for Turn 1," Hao Dong analyzed calmly. Turn 1 was a right-hand turn, and Jiang Qiyan's quick move to the right after the start clearly indicated her intention to take the inside line into Turn 1.
The starting pack was extremely dense. Turn 1 was a right-hand turn. According to the fastest racing line, which is outside-inside-outside, one should first move to the far left of the track, then turn right, hugging the apex on the right, and finally exiting the corner on the left. This was the fastest line for Turn 1, essentially left-right-left. The entire pack was following this pattern.
A row of bikes surged towards the far left of the track, converging into a dense stream of traffic, with almost three bikes running side-by-side in every section.
Jiang Qiyan was on the far right of the entire pack. The pack was so crowded that, following the outside-inside-outside line, Jiang Qiyan, being on the far right, had already been squeezed into the middle of the track. This was Lin Yan's tactical arrangement. Instead of pursuing the standard outside-inside-outside line into Turn 1, it was better to take a middle-outside-middle approach, at least to avoid having riders on both sides when entering the corner within the pack.
Downshifting and braking, the bike entered the corner. Because she was on the far right of the pack, Jiang Qiyan easily hugged the inside line upon entering the turn. At the same time, Jiang Qiyan experienced what a top-tier race pack was like.
Everyone was desperately hugging the inside line. She could clearly feel the front wheel of her bike bumping into the rear wheel of the rider in front of her the moment she entered the corner. The riders who had been to her left were now also desperately crowding towards the inside, their helmets even pressing against her knees.
"Turn 1 is a fierce battle. The riders are completely squeezed together, but we can see that Jiang Qiyan's position seems quite good; she hasn't been affected by the pack."
As the bikes leaned collectively, the pack passed the apex of the corner, and Jiang Qiyan twisted the throttle to the maximum.
Accelerating out of the corner at full throttle, Jiang Qiyan's position was quite safe. There were no riders behind her or to her right, only to her left and in front. The rider who started second to last, to Jiang Qiyan's front left, was in a rather unfortunate situation, being surrounded from the remaining three directions behind.
Successfully navigating Turn 2, the Ninjia 400 rider, who started second to last, experienced slightly reduced speed due to the congestion of the pack, bringing them alongside Jiang Qiyan.
Turns 3 and 4 were a series of continuous bends that severely tested the riders' ability to change direction, posing a significant challenge for the pack.
Jiang Qiyan's gaze was fixed ahead. She instinctively gave up the optimal line, maintaining some distance from the riders beside her. As Lin Yan had taught them, these continuous bends, where the traffic hadn't yet dispersed, were the most likely places for crashes to occur.
In the transition zone between the two corners, the two riders side-by-side could collide with each other depending on who changed direction faster.
Reisker, leading the pack, had already pulled away from the second-place rider and entered Turn 3. Within three corners, he had left the second-place rider, who had started only half a bike length behind him, in his dust. It was evident that no one could easily challenge Reisker's championship status in WSBK 300.
Applying throttle, exiting the corner, Reisker's bike slowly transitioned from leaning to straight and then leaned to the other side. Reisker on the bike, besides changing his upper body position, also retracted one knee and extended the other.
With agile maneuvering, Reisker entered Turn 4.