Jack Miller blows minds off at the Japanese Motul Grand Prix as he dominates the tracks in unfamiliar way at the mobility Resort Motegi.
Jack Miller has dominated the Motul Grand Prix of Japan, as fellow Ducati Lenovo Team rider Francesco Bagnaia MotoGP™ World Championship hopes been blown as he crashed on the final lap.
Pecco was tangled in battle with Fabio Quartararo over eighth position when he hit the deck, as Aleix Espargaro failed to score points after encountering a technical problem before the start at the Mobility Resort Motegi.
The second on track went to Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder and third to Prima Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin, while the Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez turned his first pole position in almost three years into fourth at the chequered flag after 24 frenetic laps.
This was an unexpected chapter for MotoGP to be written in the history of the 2022 championship, this follows a number of occasions that milked out energy for the championship, including bad weather and fixed schedules.
Started with a tightly compressed Friday schedule to safeguard against freight delays.
Much of Saturday was washed out by an enormous thunderstorm, including a crucial third practice session.
Followed by a perfectly dry and sunny race day delivered a podium, indeed a top seven with no relevance to the championship whatsoever.
Even so, Jack Miller shined the tracks with the best ride of this premier class career, dominating the field as he had never before experienced and hinting that the best of his Ducati career might be yet to come just in time for the Australian Grand Prix debut weeks from now.
Meanwhile, the title contenders were doing their best to score any points at all. With only one Fabio Quartararo succeeding as he continues grinding his way up to a possible second championship.
Miller Raises the Bar
This was Jack Miller happening in a way he’s never been seen before, dominating the grand Prix for the first time, compared to his past races where he leaned on his impressive feel for changeable conditions or been quick enough to capitalize on the mistakes of others, there was no other rider on the grid in Japan capable of taking victory from him on any of the 24 laps of the race.
It was comfortably the best race of Miller’s career and performance so strong in fact that it surprised even Miller himself.
“It was an emotional one that’s for certain as it always is with me, I don’t cry but I was crying like a baby on the in-lap,” said the Townsville-born rider.
“To be honest, I didn’t know I had that in me, Miller wrote on his website. I never thought that I’d be able to win a grand Prix like that, just pulling away from everybody and dominating. It was a pretty incredible feeling.”Miller noted on his website.
It can be tempting to think that things just clicked on Sunday for Miller, following his uninspired seventh after qualifying in the wet too, conditions in which he normally excels but the seeds of this victory were sown on Friday when he topped the sole elongated practice session and experimented with the hard rear that he ultimately rode to a crushing victory.
In that sense, it was close to a complete weekend, with the pieces put together long before lights went out and it was all the more impressive given the compressed practice schedule giving him just one opportunity to get his ducks in a row.
It perpetuated a strong second half of the season for Miller. Excluding his fall in San Marino, he’s been strong and consistent since returning from the break, and this is his fourth podium from the last seven races.
And victory hasn’t just moved him up to fifth in the championship and within striking distance of fourth, but it’s also put him back on track to continue the year-on-year progression he’s enjoyed since his debut in the premier class. Every year in MotoGP he’s finished with an average points per race score higher than in the season prior.
He’s now only 22 points behind last year’s total, and given strong finishes to seasons are very much a Miller trend, we may well expect the best may yet be to come in the final four races of his Ducati career including at his home grand Prix at Phillip Island in a couple of weeks.
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Being a wacky weekend where the schedule is turned upside-down, and a forecast full of thunderstorms all week for the weekend’s Thai Grand Prix, has more to be expected in a few days.
