Townsville-born Jack Miller wins opening race of Moto3 World Championship in Qatar

JACK Miller has arrived as Australia’s new motorcycle racing star, winning the opening race of the Moto3 championship in Qatar.

AUSTRALIA, you have a new motorcycle racing star, and his name is Jack Miller.

The Townsville-born teen stormed to victory in the opening race of the Moto3 World Championship in Qatar, his maiden win in the stepping-stone class to MotoGP.

The 19-year-old KTM rider prevailed after a heated, race-long battle with Honda rival Alex Marquez, younger brother of current MotoGP world champion Marc.

Relive Miller’s moment of glory tonight at 6:30pm EDT on SPEED (Foxtel channel 512).

News_Rich_Media: A future Australian MotoGP champion may have been unearthed on Monday morning after 19-year-old Jack Miller took out the season opener Moto3 race in Qatar.

From third on the grid, his first front row start in Moto3, Miller took off like a scalded cat to lead into turn one, followed by Marquez.

The pair were soon in a race of their own, opening up a two second gap with Marquez assuming the lead until the chasing pack of riders caught the breakaway on the final lap.

News_Image_File: Miller lead away from the start.

“It’s incredible,” Miller said as he headed up to the podium.

“That last lap was a little bit scary to be honest. Alex and I pushed so hard in those early laps and the tyres (didn’t last like) I thought they would.”

News_Image_File: Miller lunges down the inside of Marquez into turn one.

After swapping the lead early on the final tour, Marquez succumbed to the heavy pressure from the Australian only a few corners from home, running wide and leaving the door open for Miller to claim his first Moto3 victory.

“I was trying to work it for the slipstream on the last lap and then Alex had the moment.

“I just had to go, like, ah, just f*** it, I’ll go alone and push, and it worked out beautifully.”

His Red Bull KTM Ajo bike crossed the line a scant two tenths of a second over his rival’s Honda, with Efren Vazquez third for Miller’s old team. The top six were covered by just 0.586 seconds.

News_Image_File: Miller celebrates victory with a monster wheelie.

Only a handful of Australian riders have won in the world championship’s junior class, Casey Stoner the most recent in Malaysia in 2004, coincidentally aboard a KTM.

After three years of toil and pain, wringing the neck of uncompetitive machines, breaking bones as he crashed trying to extract more than the bike would give, Miller is now on top of the world.

In his first race for his new team Miller heads to the next round at the Circuit of The Americas leading the world championship.

“I can’t thank the team enough, it was awesome,” he said. “The first race, first podium, first victory; it’s incredible.

“And sorry for my language...”

For all those worrying about our future stocks in MotoGP, Miller showed the legacy of Gardner, Doohan and Stoner is in safe hands.

News_Image_File: Marquez congratulates Miller after their battle.