Pramac rider Jack Miller admitted he “let everybody down”, including his team, with a race-ending shunt at the Australian Grand Prix.
Miller emerged as a surprise frontrunner at Phillip Island last weekend, qualifying on the front row of the grid for the first time since 2023 before finishing a solid fourth in Saturday’s sprint.
In the main race on Sunday, he dropped from third on the grid to sixth early on as the Yamaha lacked the long-run pace of its rivals, but was still in for a solid points haul on home turf.
However, his race ended prematurely when he lost the front end of his M1 at Siberia on lap 5, marking his second retirement in as many weekends.
The Queenslander revealed that he was struggling with the handling of his bike on a heavier fuel load in the race, but was nevertheless disappointed in himself given the speed he had enjoyed earlier in the weekend.
“It felt decent coming into the race. I got away to a decent start, I was in the group there,” he explained.
“I was struggling a little bit more than I had done all weekend, especially [Turns] 6 and 2. I kind of felt like I had to force it a little bit more to make a turn. Whether it be the Pirelli rubber or the extra fuel, [I don’t know]. We’re only two litres more than warm up but still. It just felt like I had to force it a little bit more.
“I had a couple of warnings going into [Turn] 6, just with a little bit of vibration going in as I’m trying to force the bike to turn in. And yeah, ‘she’ finally said no more on the third time; kind of just vibrated in and then went on me.
“[I am] disappointed to let everybody down, let the team down after what was a strong weekend.
“But we showed this weekend great pace, great speed – doing it on our own. So try and take the positives and learn from the negatives, and try to understand what the difference was today.
“I felt like I positioned myself well. Just creeping up to what could have been a nice result. But that’s all to say, we need to put it into practice. It’s two weekends now where we’re going to let ourselves down in the main race.
“[Now we will] try and get out of this little bit of slump, that is the GP race and try to fix it going forwards.”
Sunday at Phillip Island began with Darwin-born Justin Kelso finishing on the podium in the Moto3 race, before Senna Agius brought more delight to the home crowd with victory in Moto2.
Since Casey Stoner’s retirement at the end of 2022, Miller has been the prolific Australian rider in MotoGP, although more Aussies have entered grand prix racing in recent years.
“I’m stoked for the other two,” he said. “Of course, I appreciate the home fans and everything. [But] I’m a racer, I’m trying to do the best I can every time I get on the bike.
“Senna’s down there with all my larrikins at the moment. Three sheets of the wind, having a good time. It’s good for him and I was so bloody stoked. Gave him a big old hug and was out there clapping.
“I’m a fan of Australian motorsports, whether it be motorcycling, road racing, motocross, Formula 1 with Oscar [Piastri]. I love when Aussies do well.
“I enjoy that success and I try to feed off it almost. But unfortunately, today we weren’t able to join the club.”
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