MotoGP: Jack Miller warned ‘he can’t ride a MotoGP bike like a Moto3 bike’ by Cal Crutchlow

JACK Miller’s new teammate has offered a few words of caution ahead of the Australian Moto3 star’s leap into MotoGP for 2015.

2014 Tissot Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix - Jack Miller gets up close and personal with Alex Rins with four laps remaining. Picture: Mark Stewart

JACK Miller’s new teammate has offered words of caution ahead of the Australian Moto3 star’s leap into MotoGP for 2015.

British rider Cal Crutchlow has jumped ship from Ducati and will join Miller at Lucio Cecchinello Racing next season.

While Crutchlow will be aboard a full-factory Honda MotoGP bike, similar in specification to the machine Marc Marquez used to dominate this year’s world championship, Miller will ride slightly lower-performance production version.

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Although Miller’s bike will be a few horsepower short and a few tenths of a lap slower than the Honda that Crutchlow will ride, it is still nothing less than a rocket ship compared to the Australian’s Moto3 bike.

In an interview during SPEED’s coverage of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, the usually candid and forthright Crutchlow praised Miller’s ability on a bike.

But he also offered this warning.

“He needs to calm down, that’s my feeling,” Crutchlow told SPEED.

“He won’t be able to ride that (MotoGP) bike the way he rides (the Moto3 bike) now, and he’s not going to be at the front in every session like he is now.

“You can’t expect too much from him, and I know Australia does, but I wouldn’t expect too much next year.

“I think it’s a year he knows that he’s got to learn how to ride in MotoGP ... but he’s an exceptional talent, there’s no doubt about that.

“He’ll figure it out. And when he does, he’s gonna be fast. I think he can be definitely a force to be reckoned with at the front of the MotoGP class.”

Much has been made of Miller’s rapid rise into the sport’s premier class.

The 58 horsepower, 80 kilo KTM that he hustled to victory at Phillip Island is the most powerful bike — race or road — that he has ridden in his life.

In comparison, Honda’s production racer has in the vicinity of 230 horsepower, tips the scales at 160 kilos. It is capable of propelling Miller at warp speed at almost 340km/h down Phillip Island’s long front straight.

Miller will become the first rider to make the leap in the Moto3/MotoGP era, and opinions are divided over whether it is too big a step.

Crutchlow is on the fence: “I don’t know. Part of me thinks he should’ve stayed a year learning in Moto2.

“But then you think he might as well learn in MotoGP for a year. It’s not going to do him any harm.

“I’m looking forward to (being his teammate). It’s going to be funny because Jack’s a great guy, and a great rider.”

And will Crutchlow take him under his wing?

“If he pays me, yeah, no problem, I’ll help him,” he said with a cheeky grin.

Originally published as MotoGP: Jack Miller warned ‘he can’t ride a MotoGP bike like a Moto3 bike’ by Cal Crutchlow