Less than 24 hours after the death of one of their friends and colleagues, it was back to business on a sombre day for motorcycle riders at the Macau Grand Prix yesterday.
Luis Carreira of Portugal died during qualifying on Thursday, while tragedy struck the event for a second day in a row with the death of Hong Kong touring car racer Phillip Yau Wing-choi yesterday.
It's a sad fact that death is all too common in motorcycle racing, especially in road events like Macau, but the remaining riders had to put sorrow aside and focus on qualifying for today's race.
Michael Rutter, who holds the record number of wins at Macau with seven, looked completely unaffected by the tragedy, on the bike if not off, as he rode his SMT Racing Honda to pole, topping both qualifying sessions yesterday.
He admitted it had been a difficult day for every rider. "Everyone was shocked by it, but you have to move on," said the 40-year-old, competing in his 18th Macau GP. "I think we all knew straight away really," he said, "it's one of those things that happens in racing. It's a tragic thing, but it happens on TT circuits, it can happen here in Macau and it just happens in our sport.
"He was doing something he wanted to do and we just have to get on with it.