There is more fickle mistress than sport. Any elite athlete will have stories of a time when luck, circumstance, or coincidence has dealt a cruel hand during an otherwise promising fixture.
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On the weekend of October 3, it was Tom Toparis's turn to suffer at the whims of fate.
On return at the British Supersport Championship's penultimate round, the Goulburn local was looking to recover some form following a broken wrist he suffered during a crash in round one.
The injury occurred at Leicestershire's Donington Park, which is also where he made his return.
After qualifying was curtailed by rain, Toparis started from the fifth row based on his times in free practice.
But, on a soaked track, it soon became clear that Toparis would not have the dream return of which he hoped, when he crashed once again in the first lap of the first race.
Following the crash which ended race one, he was luckily unharmed. It did, however, mean that all the pressure fell on the second and final race of the weekend, in which Toparis started from the sixth row.
Thankfully, the track was dry on Sunday. But that was where good fortune ended for the 20-year-old, who visibly struggled for rhythm.
He finished in fifteenth place overall after race two, and tenth in the British Supersport class. After round five, Toparis spoke bluntly about his performance.
"I was honestly just happy to see the end of this weekend. It was definitely one of the most difficult weekends I've ever had," Toparis said.
"It's good to be back on the bike after the long break with my broken wrist. The weather wasn't at all good during the weekend. It was freezing cold with a lot of wet sessions."
Showing maturity beyond his years, Toparis did not place the blame for his substandard return solely on the weather.
"I want apologise to my team for the crash in race one," he said.
"Unfortunately I'm just struggling a lot with feeling at this point in time, after not riding at all lately, and still trying to push towards the front, I keep finding myself on the ground which is the worst possible scenario."
After struggling throughout the weekend, Toparis admitted it was "good to see the finish flag in race two, although it was a difficult race".
He added that his wrist is still causing "a bit of grief", and that he hopes it will improve by the final round this weekend.
The last round of the British Supersport Championship will take place at Brands Hatch, Longfield, from October 16 to 18.
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