How Jack Miller helped steal MotoGP from the Japanese

But this month’s focus is not on the motorcycles. Rather on one particular rider. And what happened when he left Ducati to join KTM … and seemingly brought some of the magic with him.

Jack Miller (28), is a cheery and popular Queenslander who left Australia with his family as a young teenager for the big adventure, following in the shoes of Stoner. Success in Germany and Spain earned him a 125cc GP ride in 2011, in 2014 he was beaten to the Moto3 title by two heartbreaking points by Marc Marquez’s younger brother Alex.

Then, in a move unique in modern racing, he was catapulted directly into the premier class, to ride a 1,000cc Honda for the independent LCR team. It was very much the deep end and Jack never made the top ten. But he scored points in six races and silenced any remaining critics with a classic first win in the rain at Assen in his second year.

Jack was taken up by the satellite Ducati team in 2018, but it was not until 2021, now boosted to the factory team, that he won again. In those two years, he took two more wins and nine more podiums. But he occupied a special place in the heavily Italian hierarchy, and not in a good way.

While other riders could rely on two-year contracts, Jack was always on one year at a time. Which didn’t make him feel appreciated. So when during 2022 rumours were gathering that his contract would not be renewed, he took matters into his own hands. Tired of having to justify himself constantly, and to put up with social-media slurs, he chose to leave the most successful factory in MotoGP to take up a somewhat unexpected spot alongside South African Brad Binder at KTM. The choice, on both sides, seems inspired.

In six years of trying, the Austrian firm had claimed seven wins, but it was fair to say these were more exceptional than expected, and patchy overall results meant that in spite of the spending power of a generous Red Bull budget KTM were still far short of the level achieved by Ducati.

But the start of 2023 shows the strongest signs of having turned a corner. Out of the first five of the new-this-year sprint races so far KTM have won two – both by Binder, who lies third overall after five rounds; while Jack was on pole at CotA, has frequently challenged for the lead, and finished on the podium in the full-length feature race at Jerez.

It is not just the single results, however, that are impressive. It’s more that the previously somewhat one-dimensional Austrian bikes have shown themselves highly competitive at different types of circuits and circumstances. It’s too soon to pass full judgement, but there is a strong appearance of a new dawn.

Can this be a coincidence? Bear in mind that, with Rossi and Dovizioso retired, Miller is the only active rider to have won premier-class races on two different makes, Honda and Ducati.

Jack presents a happy-go-lucky character, celebrating in his early years “goon riding” including his trade-mark “rolling stoppie” (an anti-wheelie under braking with the back wheel high in the air), and espousing the nickname “Jackass” (nowadays replaced with “Thriller”). And he is the only rider to treat himself not to an expensive sportscar but to an earth-moving digger, at his family farm outside Townsville.

But the image belies the level of intelligence and application required to succeed at this level. Miller brought with him to KTM a depth of knowledge and experience gained at the highly innovative Ducati factory team – where he was, for example, chosen as the first rider to race-test the pioneering shape-shifting suspension. KTM is not short of clever engineers, nor the budget to support them. But Jack has not only developed analytical skills at Ducati, but also knowledge and experience that can short-cut what might otherwise be pointless blue-sky development paths.

He is not KTM’s only clever capture. They also last year recruited Dani Pedrosa as full-time test rider. The diminutive Spaniard, a career-long Honda stalwart, is the best MotoGP rider never to have won a World Championship (31 race wins, six times second or third overall), and must also take some of the credit for the improvements. And between them, with plenty of help from Aprilia, Ducati and KTM have left their Japanese rivals having to catch up.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images