Jack Miller on his championship chances

Jack Miller

Jack Miller spoke with GP Corp’s podcast series ‘In the Fast Lane’ this week where the 25-year-old Aussie reflected on the Jerez MotoGP season opener and his front row seat for the sickening crash that put Marc Marquez in hospital.

“Anything is possible with Marc, I saw him lose the front and run wide, and I knew once I saw him stand it back up he would lose some time. When that happens you reset, refocus and the only goal in your mid then is trying to get back to the front, he was riding on the ragged edge and it ended up biting him on the butt there later in the race.

“It was kind of strange because Fabio was a bit up the road, and he had already caught Maverick, so I don’t know what he was trying to prove, it’s a shame for him, but it has blown the championship wide open for the rest of us.

“Just getting points on the board on the weekend was the key thing and with guys like Rins, Marc and Cal, there is a lot of top guys there that have scored no points, and possibly won’t across the first couple of rounds, so with the season going to be as short as is, it could play out in our favour a bit later in the championship.

“I could have probably risked a little more towards the end of the race, but I had just done 23 laps in the hottest conditions I have ever ridden a MotoGP bike in, I was in a good points scoring position and I was not going to throw that in the bin, I have done it too many times and it is not much fun walking out of the gravel after you have put all that work in to get unrewarded, especially this early on in the championship. 

“I was just happy to put some points on the board, set up a solid foundation, for sure once we get further on in the championship we can start to take more and more risks, but in these early days, especially after watching Rins crashing and getting injured in qualifying, Crutch getting injured in warm-up and then Marc getting injured in the race.

“I saw Marc’s crash first hand and I lost over a second as I had to roll out of the throttle as all I could see as I came through Turn Three was the side of a Repsol bike dead-centre in front of me and I thought, ‘oh I am going to hit this bike here’.

“This track has not been particularly good for Ducati here in the past so to come away with a decent haul of points we will take it. Then later on we do have some really good ones coming up for us, Brno and Austria, Valencia and even Aragon so I think we have got plenty of time to make up points.”

Miller will be aiming to do exactly that this weekend when MotoGP swings into action oncve again at Jerez for round two which is dubbed Gran Premio Red Bull de Andalucía.

Gran Premio Red Bull de Andalucía Schedule

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MotoGP Championship Points Standings