Watching Reisner disappear further ahead, Qionghai gritted his teeth, wanting to chase after him, but he couldn't shake off KT behind him for the moment.
Human relationships, you know.
If he really expected someone to stop Lin Yan, Ma Wang guessed that perhaps only Reisner's fellow countryman could do such a thing. However, Ma Wang glanced at another Austrian rider on the track, in twenty-first place, no longer within the points, riding last year's Yamaha factory bike, with no advantage at all on this track.
After being overtaken by Lin Yan, Balun didn't try to reclaim the position but stayed close behind Lin Yan, drafting in his slipstream.
Just as Ma Wang had guessed, he had his own plans. Qionghai and the KTM rider ahead were still battling, and even if Lin Yan eventually reached first or second place to contend with Reisner, he would still have enough tires to fight with Qionghai and the KTM rider for the remaining positions.
Why help others when it didn't benefit himself? Moreover, his relationship with Reisner wasn't that deep.
Anyone with eyes could see that the top two positions in this race were basically decided, leaving only the third place on the podium.
Arriving behind Qionghai and the KTM rider, Lin Yan, under his helmet, couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth as he saw the two still battling.
Lin Yan understood why they were fighting so hard. Both of them believed they were stronger than Balun behind them, and they were fighting for the third podium spot.
Being on the podium and not being on the podium were two entirely different concepts.
Lin Yan didn't rush to overtake them. Instead, he started conserving his tires. If these two wanted to fight, let them fight. The overtakes ahead had also consumed a lot of his energy, and he wanted to reap the benefits of their struggle.
However, Lin Yan's hope was quickly dashed.
At the end of the fifth lap, both Qionghai and the KTM rider behind him saw their team's notification boards and knew that Lin Yan was behind them.
Soon, on the first corner of the sixth lap, Qionghai took a very clever wide line, yielding the position and allowing the KTM rider behind him to overtake.
Seeing this, the KTM rider was stunned. He had already planned to stop attacking, and he hadn't expected Qionghai to yield. What was going on?
A mistake? That shouldn't be the case.
The KTM rider could only attribute Qionghai's maneuver to a mistake.
Lin Yan, who was behind, was also a bit confused. He had been looking for an opportunity to benefit from their struggle, but why had they stopped fighting?
Seeing the two stop their battle, the chief engineer of Ben Tian's face eased considerably. Surely these two could at least slow down Lin Yan.
However, what happened next made his eyes widen. At the second corner, Qionghai made another clever wide move, taking the outside line himself, and Lin Yan overtook him effortlessly.
With two consecutive "mistakes," Lin Yan was also a bit bewildered. Was Qionghai's bike having problems? But he soon understood what was happening.
This guy...
Seeing Qionghai yield the position, Ben Tian's chief engineer's mouth twitched. He also guessed Qionghai's intention.
Let Lin Yan wear down the KTM rider ahead, and he would reap the benefits.
At this moment, the KTM rider was unaware of what had happened behind him. It wasn't until he passed the third corner that he noticed a red figure in his peripheral vision and realized something was wrong.
How could Qionghai have been overtaken in just a few corners? Damn it, was this Lin Yan that good?
Without thinking further, he put in more effort, delaying his braking point even further.
On the track, dozens of race cars roared past, creating gusts of wind.
At the end of the seventh lap, the KTM rider saw his team's instruction board and cursed.