Honda had a terrible day in the Superbike class yesterday. Is the Honda flag flying atop Mid-Ohio's tower tempting fate? image by jim mcdermott

Flying a flag upside down is a well known symbol of distress, and some superstitious folks consider it to be bait for catching very bad luck.

In yesterday's Superbike race, Neil Hodgson's CBR1000RR had a terminal mechanical malfunction, spewing smoke and quite possibly oil out of the fairings and onto the racing surface.

Miguel Duhamel had the misfortune to crash twice in the same race, once just before the first red flag, after which his crew frantically rebuilt the machine so he could make the restart. He crashed again in the aftermath of the fiery spill that burned Matt Lynn's Corona Honda CBR. All in all, it was a pretty tough day for American Honda teams.

Honda is a very visible sponsor of this weekend's AMA race here at Mid-Ohio, with trucks, fences and walls covered in swaths of Big Red. Atop the media center, the tallest visible spot on the circuit, flies Old Glory. Flapping in the wind, high above pitlane & just beneath the Stars N Stripes, is a large red Honda flag. Whoever mounted it must not be too superstitious.

The Honda flag is flying upside down.