MotoGP Motegi: Miller ‘riding with a smile, didn’t know I had that in me!’

Ducati Lenovo’s Jack Miller had a ‘magic’ Sunday at Motegi after dominating the Japanese Grand Prix from the third lap.

Claiming his first victory of 2022, and his first since Le Mans last season, Miller commanded the field by five seconds at mid-race before cruising across the line and indulging in his usual shoey celebrations.

“I can ride a motorcycle sometimes,” Miller joked as the celebrations subsided in Japan. “I mean, I felt amazing all weekend, to be honest, since we kicked things off on Friday avo. Everything came together relatively easy, the bike was working fantastic.”

Despite a disappointing qualifying due to Saturday’s torrential rain, the usual wet weather master lined up seventh on the grid before a strong start saw the Australian begin to pick off his rivals one by one. Turn 11 was the location of choice for the majority of overtakes, apart from a somewhat heavy handed move on Maverick Viñales at turn five. “Yeah, That was pretty close. I felt a bit guilty with that one,” he admitted before elaborating on his weekend.

“Qualifying didn’t particularly go to plan - generally in wet conditions I feel like I can challenge for the guys in the front, more so than even in the dry but I just didn’t feel myself,” Miller admitted. “I just was struggling, having moments and whatnot. I was a bit annoyed after qualifying, I knew seventh, okay, was a good salvage job, but I knew it was going to make things a little bit harder but to be honest, I got away to a good start.

“I actually said to all of my crew last night I said ‘we’re winning tomorrow, we’re going for it tomorrow!’ I’ve said it plenty of times before and hasn’t come true so I’m glad that it finally did this time.

“Took off, got a decent start and was able