MotoGP: EXCLUSIVE – Jack Miller Interview

2019 promises to be a big year for Jack Miller. Having a season at Ducati under his belt, the Australian will attack the new season aboard a GP19, a similar spec to the factory riders. Furthermore, the 23-year old knows that a place in the factory team is up for grabs in 2020, should his performances merit it.

Crash.net caught up with Miller toward the end of the 2018 season to assess his time with the Italian factory to date, working over the winter, shrugging off hefty falls like the one suffered at Le Mans in 2017, and his aim of competing in a factory team for 2020.

Crash.net:
How would you assess 2018, your first season with Ducati?

Jack Miller:
I think it was a good season. It was always going to be full of ups and downs, especially when you move teams, move manufacturers. But I think the good has outweighed the bad. I think we’re getting closer and closer to the goal which we set out at the start of the year, but we haven’t been able to reach it just yet.

Crash.net:
What was missing to reach that goal?

Jack Miller:
A little bit here and there. If I knew, I’d fix it! It’s so hard at the minute. The championship is so, so strong. The grid’s stacked with talent and guys on good bikes. It’s not only one bike working well; we’ve seen that every manufacturer can be there on different weekends. It’s a hard one.

Crash.net:
Do you have to occasionally remind yourself that you’re still fairly young and inexperienced compared to most of your competitors?

Jack Miller:
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. If you look at Cal [Crutchlow] and Dovi [Andrea Dovizioso], or even Valentino [Rossi], I’ve got a long way ahead of me. But there are a lot of young guys coming into the championship now, or guys my age that are just as hungry as you are. So you’ve got to watch your back and make sure you’re doing the right things, trying to get the best out of yourself, week-in-week-out. It can be just like that [clicks fingers], it’s so cutthroat this business. You’ve got to be ready.

Crash.net:
Was it a boost to hear Alvaro Bautista’s comments after the Australian Grand Prix, when he said the differences between the GP17 and GP18 were major, to hear how rapidly Ducati is developing?

Jack Miller:
Definitely. Especially leading the race, and then sitting behind Alvaro and Andrea for most of the race I was just watching it. It looks good. The future looks bright. I’m really looking forward to [competing with] the GP19.

Crash.net:
How is your feeling at Ducati? At the beginning of the season we saw instances where Gigi Dall’Igna was speaking to you in the Pramac garage. This maybe wasn’t apparent with Honda bosses during your time there.

Jack Miller:
He’s still there. He does the rounds after every session. He goes to visit both of his [factory] riders first and then he comes into Petrux [Danilo Petrucci] and me. It’s always nice to give your feedback and he’s always writing into his computer what you’re saying to him.

Crash.net:
You feel as though you’re firmly part of the bigger Ducati picture?

Jack Miller:
Definitely. They’re interested and they’ve really been watching me for a long time and they’ve got a lot of time for me. I definitely feel at home here.

Crash.net:
Was that a missing factor when you were riding for Honda?

Jack Miller:
We just simply weren’t getting the package that we needed. It was simple as that. We were the customer. But we weren’t the customer that was first in line. We were the second. We were getting the hand-me-down hand-me-downs. I had such a great team from Honda, and such a great crew around me. There was [Cristian] Gabarrini or Ramon [Aurin] last year, which I really enjoyed so much. I can’t say anything negative in that respect. Just in terms of material, we seemed to be missing a little bit.

Crash.net:
Do you feel your achievements were a little underappreciated with the Honda? You had to change crew chiefs and seemed to be down the pecking order when it came to upgrades.

Click Below for Page 2...

Crash.net:
Do you feel your achievements were a little underappreciated with the Honda? You had to change crew chiefs and seemed to be down the pecking order when it came to upgrades.

Jack Miller:
In some results, for sure. Especially the win [at Assen, 2016] – that wasn’t just a win. It was the first win on a satellite bike in ten years. On a real satellite bike! There was some other stuff, too. Like the race at Phillip Island last year [in 2017], staying with those guys, and also at Valencia, we also did a pretty decent job.

Crash.net:
You grew up competing in local motocross series. Is that still your one passion?

Jack Miller:
I do a lot of motocross, and on dirt-track I enjoy as well. It’s probably not the safest thing for us, but it keeps me sane. As a kid I did it every day, growing up on a farm I rode a motocross bike day-in-day-out, every day of the week. It’s something that if I stopped altogether, I’d be lost without it.

Crash.net:
Can you switch off from bikes between races? Or do you have to be riding every day?

Jack Miller:
I’m not somebody who switches off completely, like Crutch [Cal Crutchlow] for example, who does nothing. I love riding bikes. When I go home I do whatever I can, be it trials bikes or motocross, or dirt-track, or supermotard or whatever we’re feeling that week.

Crash.net:
Are the odds stacked against an Australian rider a little more, in that you’re away from family for much of the time, and have to uproot at such a young age?

Jack Miller:
You can look at it in a negative way, or in a positive way. It also helps you focus. You’re away from your friends, your family, and you know what you’re there for. You appreciate also the little things when you go home. I go home for a month [each year]. For me, if I went home every week, especially with the Australian lifestyle, I’d be at home enjoying a beer. I wouldn’t be too serious about it. It’s good for me to be out. It’s the same over the winter. I go there [Australia] for a month but as soon as Christmas is over, on the 28^th of December I’m back out to California, the same as I’ve done the past two years. You go away and you know what you’re there for. You train, and get ready for the upcoming season. If you’re at home, it’s easy to think, ‘We’ll do this today and get onto it [training] tomorrow.’

Crash.net:
Has it got easier, adapting to life away from home and being in Europe?

Jack Miller:
It is what it is. If you look at the long-term of your life, we haven’t got that many years to make a living out of this. You have to enjoy it while you can. You have to look at the positives. I’m fortunate enough that I am able to fly home during the winter because there are some guys that don’t do that even. It’s nice.

Crash.net:
The crash you suffered at Le Mans last year has to be one of the biggest in memory. Does an incident of that magnitude affect you?

Jack Miller:
That was terrifying. But I think I’ve had worse, or been in crashes that felt worse. Don’t get me wrong, that was fucking scary. But it wasn’t crazy bad. It wasn’t something that made me think, ‘Fuck, do I want to quit?’ or anything like that. That thought never went near my head. The hardest thing was just getting over the hand. The hand was broken again, and that was the worse thing. But for me, once it happens, you get up. I come from motocross, where, when something like that happens, you pick it up and you get going again as quick as possible, because the race is still on. For me it was just a case of getting up and getting going again.

Crash.net:
Do you feel being able to block those kinds of things out of your mind is ingrained in you? You either can or can’t…

Jack Miller:
Literally once I got back up I thought, ‘Fuck, that was big! But let’s go for qualifying.’

Crash.net:
How are you approaching 2019? Is securing a place in the factory team for 2020 the primary aim?

Click Below for Page 3...

Crash.net:
How are you approaching 2019? Is securing a place in the factory team for 2020 the primary aim?

Jack Miller:
For sure. I don’t think I’d have it any other way. I signed a one-year contract and extension with Ducati for that. I believe if we can do a really good job next year we should be in line for a factory seat somewhere. Here at Ducati. If not, we’ll see where the cards fall. I know a lot of guys have contracts already for 2020 but I think it’s better for us to be a free agent when contract negotiations start next year.

Crash.net:
So the aim is to get into any factory team as soon as possible?

Jack Miller:
For sure.

Crash.net:
Are there any internal changes to your team, or changes in approach off-track for the new year?

Jack Miller:
No, not really. I’ve got a really good thing happening at the minute. I feel year-by-year my condition is getting better. With us the biggest thing is, OK, through the year you don’t want to go killing yourself training. You come home from a weekend, and it’s one weekend on, one off. By the time you travel, what you need to do is to maintain yourself through the year to make sure you don’t go down, to maintain your physical performance. I feel every year in the winter I go and kill myself with the mountain bike and the road bike. I feel the winter is the time to up your physical performance. Every year I feel I’ve gone up a step. I feel the same again for next year. I just need to make another step up and keep working. I feel I’m getting better with age as well. I feel my body is becoming better.

Crash.net:
At this time of year, is cycling your primary means of keeping fit?

Jack Miller:
Yeah, cycling, and a little bit of gym – not too much. Mainly I’m cycling and working on cardio. Working on strength, and working on mental strength as well away from the track.

Crash.net:
Cal Crutchlow has said he believes you have the talent to win MotoGP titles in the coming years. But he adds there are one or two things missing from your approach. Being close friends, do you discuss this?

Jack Miller:
I think that’s just Cal giving me the old knife in the ribs. It’s always nice to hear something like that, especially from someone like him. We just have to keep working at it. It’s all well and good people saying I can be a world champion but it doesn’t really mean anything until you’re actually there challenging for it. That’s my goal, to eventually be there fighting [all season] with the likes of Marquez and those boys. Marc’s going to be here for a while so I think somebody needs to give him a bit of a hurry-up. With Maverick, sure it was a hard year for Maverick, but he’s one of those guys. Dovi’s doing well and has been resurgent. But for sure some of the younger guys in the class have to lift their game a little.

Crash.net:
In the past two seasons, Petrucci has almost been like another test rider for the factory team. With the factory giving you new parts to test, are you banking on this being another factor that can push you forward?

Jack Miller:
I hope so. It’s always nice getting new stuff brought into the box. I’m looking forward to taking on that role and putting my input into the development of the bike and having my thoughts listened to.

Crash.net:
Do you have a rough idea of where you’re intending to finish in 2019?

Jack Miller:
It’s a bit early for that! I’ll give you an idea after the Qatar test. There are people talking about 2020 already. It just keeps getting closer, earlier and earlier. I have no real goals just yet. We’ll get these last races out of the way, see how we finish in the championship, and then set ourselves a new goal.