MotoGP: Australian rider Jack Miller on doing ‘the best job in the world’

JACK Miller can’t give me his phone number. Not that he’s media shy. He just tends to lose phones. “Call my mum instead,’’ he says.

2015 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island - Jack Miller in action during free practice. Picture: Mark Stewart

JACK Miller can’t give me his phone number. Not that he’s media shy. He just tends to lose phones. “Call my mum instead,’’ he says.

Miller is a motorcycle racer first, the rest is just details.

This weekend the 20-year-old MotoGP rookie will pilot his 1000cc LCR Honda in the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

Miller’s debut year in MotoGP was never going to be uneventful. He’s shown patches of brilliance only to be undone by a mistake. And often a rookie mistake, which he admits to.

Yet the prospect of racing at Phillip Island, which is known as a fast, racers’ circuit lights up his face.

“It feels like home and I love coming home,” he says.

Even so, the family home for Miller is 2750km away, on a property outside Townsville.

He grew up around motorcycles and has a dirt-bike pedigree. Returning to the dust tracks is how he unwinds with friends and family.

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Miller first jumped on a bike at age three after, as his mum Sonya says “he was having a tantrum when his five-year-old brother Fergus got his first bike”.

He won his first national dirt bike titles in the 65cc category at age 8 and won many more trophies until 2007. He loved motocross and wanted to be a Crusty Demon. but then discovered road racing. “This is what I want to do,” he says.

That shift prompted a move to Europe, meaning a major family commitment when his mother shifted overseas for four years to help launch his career.

“We never doubted his ability,’’ she says.

Miller learnt his race craft on 125cc machines for four years, catching the eyes of paddock experts with his second place on the factory-backed KTM in the Moto3 championship of 2014.

Pinnacle of that year was victory at Phillip Island which remains a personal highlight, and helped earn him a spot on the LCR Honda MotoGP team, skipping the Moto2 category altogether.

Miller made a statement of intent as early as his first outing in the premier class. Under lights in Qatar and starting from 22nd on the grid, Miller passed 12 bikes in first four corners.

He eventually slipped back and did not finish, owning up to an error going into a corner.

At a rain-soaked Silverstone in August, he was pushing up the field only to drop the bike, taking English teammate Cal Crutchlow out in the process. Rule No. 1: Don’t crash into your teammate. Rule No 2: Don’t do it at his home track.

Miller copped the ensuing criticism from fans, the sporting press and social media on the chin.

“It’s cool. Cal and I get along really well. Cal and I are friends in the paddock. It was unfortunate and in Japan (last Sunday) in the wet we were trying not to do the same thing.’’

Indeed, he started from 22nd at the Motegi circuit and quickly speared through the field and was eyeing the top 10 before a fall, and then another, sank his hopes.

Jack Miller in action during the free practice session at Phillip Island.

But Miller is clearly a natural born racer. In the wet, he’s been more than competitive until exuberance and inexperience undid the good work.

Most experts say it will take time for Miller. Remember, they say, he’s not even 21 until January and the leap from the 125cc to 1000cc machine was always going to take some period of adjustment.

Five-time world champion Mick Doohan says Miller is still learning his craft and has been competitive on the bigger bike.

“All in all, he’s done a great job. Unfortunately on a motorcycle, you make one mistake and you’re on your backside. In a car, you might just spin out and go again.”

“He’s shown that he can compete up the front. He’s got the talent — it’s a matter of containing his enthusiasm.

“Clearly he’s a good rider. He almost won Moto3 last year so he’s a world-class racer.”

Darryl Beattie, Grand Prix race winner-turned commentator, described Miller’s progress as “exceptional” acknowledging his youth and the jump in bike power.

The change in power will be eye-opening for Miller this weekend at the island.

“On a Moto3 you’re coming down to the first corner doing 245-250kmh and on the MotoGP bike you’re doing 340km.”

“Doohan Corner (turn one) I haven’t hit it yet (on the bigger bike) but on a Moto3 it was, ‘Oh, shit’.

“On the MotoGP it’s going to be something different of course.”

It’s a remarkable story, given that he still doesn’t have a licence for the streets. Never really bothered. “Don’t think my Mum would be too happy if I did. I’d just go crazy.”

Crazy he can be. Miller is not your average vanilla sportsman. He admits he falls on his head. A lot.

“Yeah, I like to get loose. Get my feet off the pegs and let it go, y’know, that’s all, just get loose.”

“It’s the best job in the world, racing bikes. I’d hate to have a job where I had to get out of bed early every morning. I do have to do my physical work every day which is fine. But it’s the best job.”

Originally published as MotoGP: Australian rider Jack Miller on doing ‘the best job in the world’