The limited time before the race meant that the director's choice of who to give camera time to was a critical point. Generally, smaller teams received no coverage; only the six major manufacturers and large teams like Kawasaki and BMW were featured. This was a stark reality.
However, when the camera panned to the Ducati pit, Lin Yan was nowhere to be seen, and the audience began to voice their displeasure.
"Hey, where's Lin Shen? I didn't see him just now."
"Yeah, me neither. Didn't the official Weibo say Lin Shen would be participating today?"
"Could they be lying? If it's a lie, that's a bit much. I flew all the way here specifically for Lin Shen."
"Everyone, please calm down. Maybe Lin Shen isn't participating in the qualifiers. After all, the qualifiers only need one rider."
"That's right. With Lin Shen's skill, it's possible he wouldn't participate in the qualifiers."
Fortunately, there were some sensible people in the crowd who guessed the general idea, and the audience gradually calmed down.
"I'll wait a bit longer. If he's not here tomorrow, I'll go complain to the officials."
...
Despite some dissatisfaction, the person in question was currently engrossed in watching the race, completely unconcerned by their words.
However, Lin Yan noticed that the riders wearing Ducati's signature leather suits were positioned in the latter half of the pack. Their luck was rather poor.
"Brothers, Dong Zi is going to give you a live broadcast today."
Hao Dong had also arrived at the scene, but he was not in the same stands as Lin Yan. Lin Yan was in the west stands, while Hao Dong was in the east stands.
Setting up his broadcast stand, Hao Dong began today's live broadcast. He had also helped to pacify the audience earlier.
In his opinion, Lin Shen would definitely not participate in the qualifiers. It would be bullying to have a world champion compete in a qualifier.
The faint afternoon sun pierced through the clouds, casting its rays onto the track. The track temperature today was only twenty-nine degrees Celsius, not even reaching thirty degrees. This temperature could already affect the tires' grip.
With five minutes left until the race, the one hundred riders lined up to the right of the starting line all assumed a starting posture, their gazes focused intently on the race cars directly opposite them on the track.
The track was about twenty meters wide, and this width also tested the riders' physical fitness and sprinting ability.
As the moment approached, the atmosphere grew increasingly tense. In the Ducati pit, Zhang Mingzhi rubbed his hands together tightly. He hadn't taken this race seriously initially, but since the young master was participating, he had to treat it with importance.
With only three minutes left before the race began, the safety car slowly drove out from the starting line to conduct a circuit inspection.
Watching the safety car slowly moving on the track, Lin Yan estimated that the safety car would be quite busy this time.
After completing the lap, the safety car stopped behind the pack of riders.
Once the safety car stopped, the safety officer inside made a gesture to the flagman behind him, indicating that the track conditions were suitable for racing.
Upon receiving the instruction, the flagman immediately waved the red flag and withdrew from the track.
With the red flag behind withdrawn, the green flag was waved in front, and simultaneously, the red lights at the starting line illuminated.
The Jianghai City International Endurance Race was about to begin.
All the riders turned their heads to look at the lights at the starting line, and the spectators in the stands also fell silent.
Lin Yan adjusted his posture, finding the most comfortable position to watch the race.
As the two flags were waved again, the moment the red lights extinguished, the hundred riders sprinted rapidly towards the other side of the track. Even in their bulky leather suits, their movements were not slow at all. After a forty-meter sprint, they leaped onto their motorcycles and accelerated away.
The start of an endurance race also offered a significant advantage to riders who ran faster. Little Li was in 65th position. After a frantic sprint, he had moved up to 49th position by the time his motorcycle crossed the starting line, gaining sixteen places.
With a hundred motorcycles starting simultaneously, the scene was spectacular, with the roar of engines filling the air.
As the motorcycles started, the safety car behind them also accelerated. The first lap of the qualifiers would eliminate many riders, making the safety car's role paramount.
However, before the safety car had gone far, just at the first turn, several motorcycles collided, and cars with flames burst out of the track.
Furthermore, after entering the turn, three more motorcycles, due to being too crowded, failed to brake in time and veered off the track.
Fortunately, the safety car was closely following behind. The moment the accident occurred, the two safety officers in the car immediately rushed out with fire extinguishers. Simultaneously, trackside staff and medical personnel quickly climbed over the barriers and rushed towards the accident scene.
Lin Yan, watching from the stands, was not surprised by this scene; he had anticipated this outcome.
Endurance races could not have staggered starts. Endurance races were already very long, and staggered starts would only prolong the race duration.
Lin Yan was unfazed, but Su Mojin and the surrounding spectators were startled. Such a serious accident on the first lap made them wonder if there would be even more accidents later.
"Is... is it this scary?"
"It's because the distance hasn't been opened up on the first lap. It will be better once the gaps widen later."
Lin Yan explained to Su Mojin. With a crash on the first lap, Su Mojin suddenly felt an urge to stop Lin Yan from participating.
The fire on the track was quickly extinguished, except for one rider who appeared to have a fractured bone and was carried away on a stretcher.
The others were unharmed. After getting up, they immediately ran towards their motorcycles. However, in this situation, their engines had stalled, and several had already been completely destroyed by fire.
Those whose motorcycles were intact did not give up. They struggled to right their bikes, grabbed the handlebars, and ran forward, attempting to start the engines using the most primitive method of pushing.
However, the racing motorcycles were all production superbikes. While it was easy to start a 125cc or 250cc engine by pushing, it was almost impossible to start a 1000cc superbikes in a short time by pushing.
Even with several staff members coming to help push, success was extremely difficult.
Watching the other cars pull further ahead while theirs remained unstartable, and to avoid obstructing the ongoing race, in despair, they could only push their vehicles off the track, signaling their withdrawal and the end of their endurance race journey for the year.
Disappointment was etched on everyone's faces. One rider even broke down and cried while hugging his motorcycle.
He had been scooped out. He could have persevered, and seeing this, the others quickly offered words of comfort.
Alas, there was no chance this year; they could only try again next year.
One rider sighed inwardly. This was his fifth year participating in the endurance race.