Q&A with Jack Miller
I sat down for a quick chat with cheeky Aussie, Jack Miller, at the Grand Prix of Aragon, 2017. Jackass answered a series of quickfire questions about his past, his motivations and the future, exclusively for CaffsGP.
CGP - Hey Jack! Thanks for speaking to me today. We’ll start with one to ease you in, before we get to the harder questions! So, what was it about the Ducati that attracted you?
JM - Having completed 3 years with Honda, I just felt that I needed a change. The Ducati looks very good and seems to be working. I hope it will suit my riding style. It’ll be alright I think, some people get along with it really well and others don’t. The majority of the riders, including the satellite teams, seem to be working really well.
CGP – That’s very interesting. Now, it would seem you have rather large boots to fill, as an Australian on a Ducati, does this create extra pressure for you, or do you try not to think of Casey Stoner?
JM - No, I don’t think about it all that much, Casey rode a Honda as well at one point, and was on the podium on multiple occasions and even won a title with Honda also. He is an outstanding rider and the things he did were incredible. However, if you tried to chase those sorts of things, you could get lost very easily, so it’s better to create my own story and do the best I can.
CGP – That’s excellent, Jack. After a weekend that doesn’t quite go to plan, how do you keep yourself motivated, and pick yourself up for the next round?
JM – Gosh! That’s a hard one, you know. The best thing for me, personally, is to go home to Andorra, sign out from life, and social media, and just get into my rhythm of training, and stuff like that and try to focus on that side of things, to sharpen myself for the next round.
CGP – When you made the decision to leapfrog Moto2 and come straight to MotoGP, for the 2015 season, you had a lot of doubters. Do you feel that losing the Moto3 title was extra motivation for you to prove those who didn’t believe in you wrong?
JM - Definitely, it was here (Aragon) and Japan I feel I lost the title. It was hard, harder in that winter break, and even through the 1st year of MotoGP to get over not doing what I wanted to do in Moto3. It’s difficult, especially when journalists ask you “Do you wish you had not made the decision you did?” and I love to throw it back in their face, and say “We won a race and we’ve had some good, solid results”. I’ve out performed other riders who have come through the more normal way to MotoGP, so I don’t think I lost anything by not doing Moto2.
CGP – Okay, I have a couple of nicer questions to finish off! Which circuit do you think best suits your riding style?
JM – I’d like to think that would be Philip Island. It’s a smooth, flowing track, It’s left handed, there’s a couple of late and hard braking areas, but the rest of the track is more or less letting the bike role and carry lots of corner speed. I really enjoy it there!
CGP – Finally, if you could travel in time, and pick any race to ride in, which would you pick and why?
JM – That’s another hard one! I think I would say any of the races in the 90s. When Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Rainey and Mick Doohan were just coming into their best; because I think this was when MotoGP, or 500cc as it was at the time, was at its biggest. They had a lot of big money sponsors, and the atmosphere was much different to now.
