Miller happy with Aussie MotoGP finish

Rising Australian star Jack Miller is delighted to have finished in the championship points in his first MotoGP on home soil.

Miller, 20, started from 15th on the Phillip Island grid on his LCR Honda and finished in the same spot to beat all open-class competitors to the chequered flag and claim a championship point.

“I’m reasonably happy – it was a solid race,” Miller said.

“We put in really consistent lap times for the first 15 laps and the tyres died a little bit at the end there, which we were all expecting.

“We knew we had to put in just a nice, solid first half of the race and we did that today, so we’re really happy.

Spaniard Marc Marquez won the race on his Repsol Honda after an epic final lap where he snatched the lead from Spanish Movistar Yamaha rival Jorge Lorenzo.

Miller enjoyed a good campaign at Phillip Island, where he was quick in practice and was knocking on the door of the top-10 in qualifying.

If the Queenslander felt the pressure of the spotlight in his home grand prix, he didn’t show it.

“It was a great race, I think the fans would’ve enjoyed it, and I look forward to trying to be in that battle next year,” he said.

Miller announced this week that he will race on a more-competitive Honda with the Belgium-based Marc VDS team next year.

Fellow Australians Anthony West and Damian Cudlin – both late replacements for injured riders – didn’t enjoy such a good day on their home circuit, with West finishing in last place on his AB Motoracing Honda, while IodaRacing’s Cudlin retired with mechanical issues.

CIP Mahindra’s Remy Gardner, son of Australian 500cc world champion Wayne Gardner, finished a career-best 10th despite competing in the incident-packed Moto3 race with a fractured finger.

The only Australian representative on the Moto2 grid, Technomag Racing’s Joshua Hook, finished 20th.

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