After Zhou Xianyong’s lecture concluded, the new batch of trainees were dismissed and prepared to report to the club opposite the racetrack. Several young men’s gazes swept towards Lin Yan repeatedly, their faces unable to conceal their excitement.
“How many people do we have in our academy now?”
“Reporting to young master, nearly eighty. However… aside from Yan Xiaoqiang and the others, we haven’t found any other promising talents.”
Zhou Xianyong reported to Lin Yan, standing before him. With the young master present, the academy typically gained one or two new trainees every day.
“These things can’t be rushed. Alright, you may go.”
Lin Yan waved his hand and stood up from his seat. Having digested enough, he also needed to continue his training. Daniel at the East Tooth race was someone he had to defeat.
“Ren Fei, Luns, you two come with me. No unnecessary movements, focus mainly on defense.”
Ren Fei and Luns returned to the track after finishing their meal. The three mounted their factory bikes, and with three engine roars, the three bikes drove out of the track, one after another.
The same old routine, Ren Fei and Luns in front, Lin Yan behind.
Below the stands, Yan Xiaoqiang and Jiang Qi Yan also walked in from the academy entrance. Since the academy’s cafeteria was established, these guys often spent nearly an hour and a half eating. It couldn’t be helped, it was simply too delicious. Even Jiang Qi Yan, who always maintained her figure, felt she had gained some weight these past few days.
“Look quickly, Lin Shen and the others are practicing again.”
“Sigh, no wonder they are so formidable. With this level of diligence, perhaps only Yan Xiaoqiang among us can compare.”
Seeing Lin Yan and the other two back on the track, Jiang Qi Yan and the others sighed. Lin Yan and Luns were fine, but the most terrifying was Ren Fei. They considered themselves quite diligent, but compared to Ren Fei, they truly felt inferior. He practiced from morning till night, and what’s more, he was riding a factory bike.
If the stamina consumption of a liter-class sports bike was fifty percent, then the stamina consumption of a factory bike was ninety percent. They found it difficult to endure practicing for a day on a 660, yet Ren Fei could practice for even longer than them.
The three bikes traveled nose-to-tail on the track. After many days of training, Ren Fei could now block Lin Yan for a while. After two overtakes, Ren Fei executed a crossover line, blocking Lin Yan behind him once more. However, Ren Fei’s heart rate had already jumped to 170. Another high-speed corner arrived, and Lin Yan attacked again. Ren Fei stayed tight on the inside line, completely in a defensive posture, using his race bike to block Lin Yan’s racing line.
With such an aggressive defensive line, if Lin Yan hadn’t been aware beforehand, his front wheel would have nearly collided with Ren Fei’s rear wheel.
“Pay close attention to Ren Fei’s defensive line, learn from it…”
“Understood!”
Zhou Xianyong, who was watching from the side, said to Yan Xiaoqiang and the others.
After completing the defense in the high-speed corner, a low-speed corner followed. This corner was not suitable for overtaking. As long as Ren Fei’s line was standard, even Lin Yan could do nothing.
“Ren Fei deliberately slowed down in this slow corner, do you know why?”
“No!”
Seeing Yan Xiaoqiang and the others shaking their heads below, Zhou Xianyong sighed and then said.
“Ren Fei is paving the way for Luns ahead, which is what we call teammate awareness. These slow corners are basically impossible to overtake in. He knows he can’t block the young master for long, so he will slow down his own speed in these slow corners to suppress the young master’s speed. This can help Luns ahead buy some time.”
In just this one corner, Ren Fei reduced Lin Yan’s speed by at least 0.2 seconds. Then, in the next slow corner that followed closely, Ren Fei reduced Lin Yan’s speed by another 0.2 seconds.
Ren Fei had excellent control over the details, accurately predicting Lin Yan’s line in the corner and perfectly blocking Lin Yan’s race bike.
Including the time spent in the struggle and these two corners, Ren Fei had blocked Lin Yan for nearly 0.7 seconds. However, he himself had also lost 0.7 seconds on his lap time. It was a case of hurting the enemy by a thousand and damaging oneself by a thousand. After exiting these two slow corners, Lin Yan didn’t give Ren Fei any more chances, directly applying heavy braking and overtaking him. However, Luns ahead had already pulled far away.
“This is tactics. Theoretically, it conforms to the race regulations. You can learn more from this. Blocking for 0.7 seconds makes it almost impossible for the young master to catch up to Luns ahead in one lap.”
Zhou Xianyong was right. With a 0.7-second difference, even Lin Yan couldn’t catch up to Luns ahead within a single lap.
The speed was incredibly fast. With the engine roaring and the sound changing three times, Lin Yan simultaneously hooked his foot, downshifting three gears, then braking, extending his right leg, and leaning the bike into the corner.
“Listen carefully to the boss’s downshifting frequency and timing. After confirming the braking point, downshift quickly. Remember, it must be fast, allowing the engine to engage in braking as early as possible, but not too early, or the rear wheel will lock up. The downshifting action must be completed before leaning the bike, otherwise, downshifting while the bike is leaning can cause instability.”
Zhou Xianyong gathered all the trainees on the stands, using the time to digest their food to let them witness a duel between masters.
Luns gripped the handlebars, his peripheral vision constantly scanning for Lin Yan’s position in the corner.
Although staying at the academy was good now, he was still somewhat worried due to contract issues. He had also been training hard these days, as having strength was the only way to establish a firm footing with Lin Yan.
Vroom vroom vroom~
The bike exited the corner. Luns twisted the throttle, stepped on the pedal, and the bike rapidly upshifted. Due to the extremely low lean angle of the GP factory bikes, the gear control used a reverse shift, completely opposite to the normal shifting method.
For civilian vehicles, stepping down is downshifting, and hooking is upshifting. For factory bikes and most modified liter-class race bikes, stepping down is upshifting, and hooking is downshifting, the opposite of civilian vehicles.
After three laps, even though Luns’ speed was already very fast, Lin Yan still managed to get behind Luns.
This guy’s skill has improved.
Lin Yan muttered to himself, watching Luns’ back. Perhaps it was due to his hard work in recent days and his good compatibility with the upgraded factory bike, Luns’ skill had indeed improved a bit.
In the pit room, Zhang Ming and Vinares stood in front of the screen, watching Lin Yan chase Luns.
“Do you think Luns’ current skill can help the young master at East Tooth?”
Zhang Ming Zhi took a deep breath and turned to look at the relaxed Vinares. He was not as relaxed as Vinares. The young master at East Tooth was facing enemies on all sides. Daniel, Reisner, plus the two Suzukis – a total of four factory team riders would not stand by and let the young master win the championship.