Jack Miller set to jump from Moto3 to MotoGP after signing lucrative three-year contract with Honda

TOWNSVILLE teenager Jack Miller is being groomed for MotoGP stardom in a bold move by Honda, with confirmation of a lucrative three-year contract.

Aussie teen fast-tracked into MotoGP

TOWNSVILLE teenager Jack Miller is being groomed for MotoGP stardom in a bold move by Honda, with confirmation of a lucrative three-year contract.

In a dream deal for a rookie Miller will be parachuted into the 330kph, 1000cc premier class from 2015 to accelerate his MotoGP world championship aspirations.

Honda talent-spotters have plucked Miller direct from the entry-level 250cc, Moto3 class after a series of giant-killing performances with KTM this season.

The Honda factory contract is a huge boost for Miller and his parents, Peter and Sonya, who mortgaged their house to fund the grand prix dream and take Jack to Europe as a 15-year-old.

Honda is backing the championship potential of Miller, 19, although its ambitious grooming has been criticised by seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi.

Not even Rossi nor Aussie MotoGP legends Mick Doohan and Casey Stoner, all world champions with Honda, were signed to three-year factory contracts as rookies.

Jack Miller does a wheelie on his KTM in celebration after taking pole position in San Marino.

“For someone who loves bike racing it is a dream come true, to have a long-term relationship with a great company like Honda is incredible,” Miller said.

“It was a massive shock to me when they approached me about doing MotoGP but it is what I have worked had for and this is what my parents gambled on.”

MotoGP icon Rossi believes that the traditional route of winning via the Moto3 and then 600cc Moto2 classes is the best schooling for a successful MotoGP switch.

“I don’t think this is a good idea, the jump is too high and is very difficult,” Rossi said about the direct leap from Moto3 to MotoGP.

“I think riders should come through Moto2 and try to win that championship and arrive in MotoGP more ready like Marc Marquez.”

Miller gives a thumbs-up after taking pole.

But Miller, a hellraiser from North Queensland dirt tracks, refutes that MotoGP is too much too soon and that the bigger and faster the bike the better.

“Everybody is entitled to their opinion but I believe in myself, I’m not stupid and I know I can do a good job. And I also know I am not the next Marc Marquez, no one is.

“Given time I can handle switch to MotoGP — it’s just a motorcycle with two wheels, a throttle and brakes.”

Miller’s MotoGP schooling will begin with the satellite CWM LCR Honda team run by Lucio Cecchinello who fielded Stoner in his 2006 rookie season.

Miller will ride a production level Honda RCV bike.

“It is a three-year contract with HRC and the first two seasons with the LCR team will more a school for Jack and then we will see,” said HRC marketing director Livio Suppo.

Marquez is the Spanish sensation who has rewritten the record books with Honda and at just 21 is poised to clinch his second MotoGP world championship.

Originally published as Jack Miller set to jump from Moto3 to MotoGP after signing lucrative three-year contract with Honda