By Matthew Clayton
For someone whose job involves racing the world’s fastest motorcycles on the ragged edge, Jack Miller knows that unpredictability and risk goes with the territory. But the Australian MotoGP rider has long wondered whether introducing some order to his workplace chaos could pay dividends. Doing just that has unlocked a level of performance that sees him arrive at Phillip Island for this weekend’s Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix with an outside chance of a world championship.
Miller’s chances of securing the most coveted crown in two-wheel motorsport – the Ducati rider is 40 points behind championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) with a maximum of 75 points on offer in the final three races in Australia, Malaysia and Valencia – are a long shot, but they’re better than no shot at all. That he’s even being whispered about as a stealth title contender is no accident.
Jack Miller at Phillip Island this week.Credit:Robert Cianflone, Getty Images
In June, Miller took control of his own destiny in decisive fashion, choosing to jump before he was pushed by signing a two-year contract with Austrian manufacturer KTM for 2023-24. The move draws the curtain on a five-year stint with Ducati that has produced three victories and 21 podium finishes, but one that never afforded the 27-year-old the job security he craved.
Despite those results – Miller is on track for his second straight top-five finish in the championship – speculation constantly linked younger riders at Ducati’s secondary teams (Enea Bastianini at Gresini and Jorge Martin at Pramac) to Miller’s seat at the Ducati factory outfit, the Italian two-wheel equivalent of Ferrari, the moment the 2022 season began. Miller had heard it all before, but this time he did something about it.
Since 2018, Miller has lurched from one single-year Ducati contract to another, meaning he’d arrive for the season-opening grand prix in Qatar each March with the rumour mill already swirling as to who might take his place the following year. Much as he tried to ignore the noise, it took its toll.
“Someone like [five-time world champion Australian] Mick [Doohan] loved a one-year contract back in his day … probably because he could negotiate a better one after he’d won everything that season,” Miller laughs.
“I was sick and tired of justifying why I should be wanted.”
Jack Miller
“But for me, I was sick and tired of justifying why I should be wanted. Having to justify myself in Qatar every single year, why I deserve the job, why I deserve to have my position, getting questioned by everybody … as a rider you say ‘that doesn’t affect me’, but it definitely gets to you. It’s in your sub-conscious.
“It’s nice to know what I’m doing for the next two years. I feel like that stability, understanding and knowing what’s going to happen the next year is unreal, and it’s one less distraction. It takes that one thing out of the back of your brain.”
Jack Miller rides his Ducati during free practice. Credit:Robert Cianflone, Getty Images
The uptick in Miller’s results since he got on the front foot and secured his future has been stark. Over the past seven races since the German Grand Prix once his Ducati departure became public, Miller has rattled off a career-best run of form with four podium finishes, including a dominant victory in Japan in late September where he eased off in the final laps to win by 3.4 seconds, an eternity in MotoGP terms. It so easily could have been even better, after Miller crashed from the lead at Misano in Italy after qualifying on pole position.
Despite that San Marino GP spill, only Miller’s teammate Pecco Bagnaia has scored more points over those seven races, and the Australian has even surprised himself with the speed he’s shown.
“I never thought that I’d be able to win a grand prix like that, just pulling away from everybody and dominating,” he says of the win in Japan.
“It was a pretty incredible feeling … it all felt so under control, somehow. I just concentrated on hitting my marks lap after lap and being calm, and next thing you know I was five seconds up the road and not even really pushing to my maximum. It’s the best I’ve ever ridden a motorcycle in my entire life. The whole time I had a smile on my face. I got a bit emotional on the in-lap, and I was crying like a baby – I didn’t know I had that in me.”
“I never thought that I’d be able to win a grand prix like that … I got a bit emotional on the in-lap, and I was crying like a baby – I didn’t know I had that in me.”
Jack Miller
Miller has always worn his heart on his sleeve, but perspective and maturity has seen him channel his naturally hyperactive personality in more positive directions.
The one-time wild child of the paddock who survived on a diet of fast food and late nights has become a guiding hand and sounding board for the next generation of Aussie racers from his base in Andorra, offering a keen eye and wise words to, among others, Darwin teenager Joel Kelso in his rookie campaign in the Moto3 feeder category.
From someone who loathed training and would fall asleep on the couch of fellow rider and friend Cal Crutchlow between brutal bicycle sessions in the Isle of Man in his early MotoGP days, Miller has become a cycling nut, and is in better shape now than when he debuted in MotoGP seven years ago.
“I’m the lightest I’ve ever been, and I feel like I’m the best version of myself I’ve ever been,” Miller, who married long-time partner Ruby last weekend in Townsville, says.
“I’ve been at other manufacturers when you tell them you’re leaving, and they start to wind things down, but that’s one good thing with Ducati: they won’t back off because they want their bikes and their riders on top.
“A lot of people when they leave or change teams … it’s not the end of the world, it’s what happens in racing, and life in general. You don’t set a fire before you walk out and leave everyone with a shit taste in their mouth.”
“You don’t set a fire before you walk out and leave everyone with a shit taste in their mouth.”
Jack Miller
Ducati’s record at Phillip Island is modest – the Italian marque hasn’t won in Australia since 2010, as part of Casey Stoner’s run of six successive wins at his home grand prix. Miller justifiably has high hopes of improving on his last-gasp third-place finish when MotoGP last visited these shores in 2019, but it’s what is on the horizon next year that remains foremost in his thoughts.
“At this point in my career, this is what I feel is best for me,” he says of the move to KTM.
“Going over there with the knowledge I’ve gained in MotoGP to a brand that’s so hungry to try and succeed … I want to understand if I can help out in some way.
“I don’t want to say I’m finishing my career with KTM, but I am getting older. It’s something exciting for maybe the next two to four years, and then see where we are after that. See if I love it just as much as I do now.”
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
