Jack Miller made a dramatic exit from Sunday afternoon's fourth round of the MotoGP World Championship in Jerez.
The Spanish GP, the 3,000th race since the World Championship began in 1949, saw Miller crash and end a streak of points scoring finishes this season.
The 27-lap race opened at a frantic pace with Miller moving from tenth on the grid to 8th on the opening lap in a torrid early battle with three-time World Champion Jorge Lorenzo who eventually finished third on the podium.
However, the young Aussie rider went out on lap six in controversial circumstances when he ended in the gravel at turn one with Spanish rider Alvaro Bautista.
In the scramble for track position Miller tried to stay out of trouble and play a waiting game before the collision with Bautista ended his race. Upon getting up from the crash he went over and pushed Bautista over, a move he apologized for after he returned to the pits. A frustrated Miller was unhappy with Bautista's bold move on the brakes that he believes cost him an excellent chance of another top ten finish.
“It was a positive weekend until the race, I had good pace in practice and felt comfortable with the bike,” Jack said. “I got a good start but got caught up with a bunch of other riders on laps three and four and almost got cleaned up a couple of times. Then Alvaro threw it in deep on the brakes, lost the front and took me out when I was on target for another top ten finish. It was real shame but the positives are that I had great pace and I can take that forward to the race at Le Mans.”
The Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS will test at Jerez later today and then later in the week at Valencia before heading to Le Mans for the French Grand Prix.
