ROAD RACE REALITY COLIN FRASER
Miller finally for real?
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enovo Ducati’s MotoGP works team leader, Australian Jack Miller, won his second-straight MotoGP race at round 5 of the world championships at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans, France, May 16. The French GP success wasn’t surprising, given Miller’s reputation for delivering in changeable conditions. However, two weeks earlier, in Jerez, Miller took first in a typical hot and non-crazy Spanish event. He now has three career wins in the premier category and might just be silencing the critics that say that he shouldn’t have one of the top rides available in the two-wheeled racing world today. Miller, now 26, was runner-up in the 2014 Moto3 world title standings, with six victories aboard the Red Bull KTM. The teenager from Queensland then went straight into the top category with Honda. The Miller HRC period yielded a popular wet weather first for Marc VDS Honda at Assen in 2016 and started an era of Australian sports heroes drinking out of their boots on the rostrum. Honda lost faith in Miller and he moved to Ducati with the satellite Pramac team starting in 2018. The next season, he earned five podiums and then in 2020 he showed more consistency, although tire issues and unforced errors remained a concern. Miller joined the “A” Ducati effort in 2021, replacing the outgoing Andrea Dovizioso, the long-time development leader for the Italian
builder, currently owned by Audi. A rough start to the season at the two Qatar races led to the decision to get arm-pump surgery prior to the start of the Euro season, in Portugal. Miller fell early in round 3, but then set out on his current winning streak. The French success was a master class, given the cool and drizzly conditions that often happen at Le Mans in May. A record number of practice and Q session falls set up a crazy race, when the riders changed machines early due to a sudden, if brief, rainstorm. The leaders struggled to get to the pits, riding on slick tires on a slippery surface. Miller almost fell just before the pit lane, and then exceeded the pit lane speed limit, forcing a pair of penalties. “Winning two races in a row is such a dream for me,” started an emotional Miller. “Especially after such a difficult race where I even had to take a double long lap penalty, and I was even was in the gravel early on. “So, to be able to get this result is really extraordinary! The race seemed really long, and tough mentally. I tried to keep my concentration, telling myself to keep calm. In this way, I managed my tires well, and saved them for the end, managing the advantage over Johann (Zarco, on a satellite Pramac Ducati), and he was getting close by the end. It really was a fantastic victory.” As the rare “flag-to-flag,” dry-wet-drying
Jack Miller celebrates his second win of the 2021 season. PHOTO COURTESY OF DUCATI MEDIA HOUSE 50 Inside Motorcycles
event progressed, it looked like at least one of the front-runners would gamble to change bikes for the second time, going back onto the slick Michelins. Most insiders figured Miller would be in tire trouble first. Instead, Miller stayed out and kept a reasonable pace, and while Zarco disposed of the pole-sitting Monster Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo, he could only make slight inroads on leader Miller. Zarco was four seconds back for second at the end of a hectic 25 laps. Quartararo was another ten seconds behind for the final podium spot, fourth going to the resurgent second works Ducati of Francesco Bagnaia. With third, Quartararo took over the championship points lead, with 80, exactly one point ahead of Bagnaia. Zarco is third with 68 and Miller moves into striking distance, up to fourth, at 64 points. “This was the strangest race of my life,” said a relieved Quartararo. “I had never done a flag-to-flag before. We were so fast on slicks before it started to rain. I saw that Maverick Vinales (second factory Yamaha), and Miller were careful in the first wet corners, so I went for it. Then it was raining a lot in turn nine, and the bike was going left-right-left-right without braking. “When I arrive in the pits, I almost went into Bastianini’s box before pulling into my box. Then I almost took Maverick’s bike, it was a mess! So, to take the podium in these circumstances is amazing.” 2020 Moto2 World Champ Enea Bastianini wound up 14th overall, a minute back, on an Avintia Esponsorama Ducati. Attracting lots of attention at Le Mans was Repsol Honda’s recovering team leader, eight-time World Champ Marc Marquez. Charging from the start, Marquez came out of the pits in the rain on his second bike as the race leader, only to fall twice and retire with his factory RC213V too battered to continue. “The positive is we were able to show our real speed today,” explained Marquez, a race leader for the first time this season. “It is true that we did not use the opportunity that the weather gave us.” IM
